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Well good morning again, I'm Pastor James Cleland, I'm a pastor 10 minutes down the road on I-10

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at St. Mark Houston. I got a text message last night that Jason needed someone to fill in for him.

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So I'm going to apologize, this is a leftover sermon. And it's a leftover sermon from Thanksgiving Sunday.

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And it's a leftover sermon about Thanksgiving leftovers, so it kind of works.

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We just wrapped up a sermon series at St. Mark called The Tipping Point.

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It was a series all about how God fills us with His gifts.

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Gifts of grace, forgiveness, mercy, love, skills and talents and time and money.

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And how He uses those gifts in and through us, how they overflow from us into other people.

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It's about those gifts that we're given reaching a tipping point.

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So I apologize that today is a leftover sermon, but I think it works well because we're entering into a season

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where we are celebrating the gifts that God has given us and how they flow into other people.

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So my favorite way to talk about God's gifts is through food metaphors.

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I love food and there's one particular meal that I love above all other meals and that's Thanksgiving dinner.

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I love it. Everything about it. I love Thanksgiving because it's kind of the unofficial start to the Christmas season.

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I love it mostly because of the meal though. I love turkey, absolutely. Fried, baked, whatever.

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I love gravy. Hand me a glass of it. I'll drink it. Don't tell my cardiologist.

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I love the green bean casserole even and the other sides that people tend to ignore. I love them.

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I love the fact that in America we have a meal where we celebrate abundance and the tipping point that God has given us.

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And we share it with our friends and neighbors. I love food-based fellowship on Thanksgiving.

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And if you're like me, a few weeks ago on Thanksgiving you might have reached your own tipping point.

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Eating and eating and eating so you could eat no more.

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And then the next day, we were faced with kind of a fun problem.

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What do you do with all the leftover food?

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So I'm going to walk through my typical Thanksgiving leftover journey.

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And it starts around midnight of Thanksgiving Day where I go to the fridge and I make the greatest Thanksgiving sandwich you can.

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Grilled sourdough bread, turkey, a little bit of gravy, stuffing, cranberry mayonnaise, Swiss cheese, pickle.

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Yeah. Almost as good as the original meal. Maybe even a little bit better.

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The next day I do my second favorite thing to do with Thanksgiving leftovers.

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It starts to get not quite as good. Go down a little bit, but not much.

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And that's turkey, teacup, masala. I take all the dark meat and stew it in Indian spices with a ton of butter and heavy cream.

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Don't tell McCarty Elvis.

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The next day, you start to get a little bit creative and you're in Texas so you should probably make something Tex-Mex, right?

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So I make turkey tacos with turkey and Thanksgiving and stuffing and gravy and cranberry salsa.

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I mean, it kind of works, but you know, it's stretching the limit of what a taco should be.

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The next day, all favorite, throw it into an casserole, turkey, tetra-zine, which is basically chicken spaghetti with a turkey.

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And it starts to taste a little sail-throw and extra cheese. It's going to be okay.

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But at this point, about a week later, I'm starting to run out of ideas.

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And I do what some people do when they run out of ideas and go to the internet.

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Not a good idea, especially at this TikTok where I went this year.

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And the big thing for TikTok Thanksgiving leftovers was Thanksgiving pizza this year.

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No, it did not work. It was not good.

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And then you find yourself maybe a week and a half later, and it's midnight again, and you're standing over the sink,

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eating a cold piece of turkey that you dip in cold gravy and you realize it's just time to call it.

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It's time to throw out the leftovers.

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Leftovers can be great, but we don't have to get to the point where they are being wasted.

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Some of my favorite memories are from Thanksgiving and one in particular taught me that the Thanksgiving meal is best the day of,

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and it is best shared with others.

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See, I was dating my wife and I was invited to Thanksgiving at her house.

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The first time I went, I was a little bit overwhelmed, and there were a bunch of friends and family there.

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There was one lady named Susan, and I went up to her and introduced myself and asked her how she knew the bratchers.

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And she said, oh, I was at the grocery store this morning with a frozen turkey dinner in hand that's here in my eye,

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and your mother-in-law invited me to dinner.

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You see, she had just moved into the area and didn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner,

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and my mother-in-law invited her and it was a beautiful, beautiful moment, because it taught me a gospel truth.

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I remember my mother-in-law saying that something along the lines of the meal is best when it's fresh.

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And we always have too many leftovers.

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It's a shame not to share it when it's at its best, and that's a beautiful, beautiful gospel truth.

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You see, we sometimes treat God's gifts, especially the gospel message itself, like Thanksgiving leftovers.

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We want and enjoy the gifts God has given us, forgiven the grace, mercy, and love, and we fill up on them to the brink.

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But then when it comes to having extra, extra good news, extra forgiveness, extra grace, skill, time, money,

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we hold on to the extra for way longer than we should.

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And honestly, we end up wasting God's gifts at times.

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Our inclination, our tendency is to hold on to God's gifts tightly and only share them when we know we have enough storage away in the fridge

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or in the freezer in case we want them later.

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But our God, he is not a God who gives leftovers.

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He doesn't hide his gifts in the freezer. He is freewheeling with them.

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God doesn't dish out leftovers. He is constantly giving us the best, and God's gifts have no end.

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There is always more fresh grace and mercy and forgiveness.

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Remember the parable of the prodigal son and the prodigal father?

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The son goes off and spins his inheritance. He's freewheeling with it, prodigal with it.

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And then he comes back home with his tail between his legs and his father welcomes him with open arms

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and throws a prodigal feast. He's freewheeling with his gifts.

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A huge, overflowing feast for his son. That's what our God does for us.

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We know our God does not hold on to leftovers because Christ gave us everything.

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His life, his death, and his resurrection for us.

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Each one of us has overflowing gospel gifts, and the biggest good news gospel gift that we have is Christ.

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It is not a leftover we feast on when we partake in the Lord's suffer. It's the main dish.

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Serve fresh, over and over again.

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And we don't have to give others leftovers either.

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God is giving us fresh, grace, mercy, and forgiveness every single day.

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Our reading today is all about the amazing gifts that God has given us and how his gifts overflow past the tipping point.

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And I like to think if Jesus told this parable today, especially this time of year, it might sound something like this.

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The parable of the turkeys.

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You know what it looks like when God is in control, when he is reigning as king?

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It looks a lot like a regional manager of a paper company who is about to go on vacation to Jamaica for the holidays.

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Before he leaves, he called his employees to the conference room for a meeting.

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To the assistant to the regional manager, he gave a 15-pound Kelly Bronze Heritage Turkey the Rolls Royce of Turkeys, priced at $14 a pound.

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To his second best salesman, he gave a 13-pound Whole Foods Market Organic Young Turkey, priced at $4 a pound.

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And to the 10, he gave a 12-pound Walmart Great Value Turkey, priced at $1 a pound.

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Each employee was given a turkey based on his talents and skills.

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Then the boss left for Jamaica.

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The one who received the Rolls Royce of Turkeys wrapped the turkey in bacon, stuffed it with a Berkshire pork sausage dressing, and slow roasted it to perfection.

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He then invited his new neighbors, who had just moved to America over for their first Christmas feast and served the heritage turkey with all the traditional sides.

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There were no leftovers.

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The second best salesman who received the Organic Whole Foods Market Turkey injected his turkey with butter and spices, and deep fried it.

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He brought his turkey to his girlfriend's family to get together in an attempt to impress her and her family.

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It worked, and there were no leftovers.

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But the 10th, who received the Great Value Turkey, emptied out the freezer in the break room and left his turkey at work over the Christmas holiday.

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He turned down the multiple invites he had for dinner and ordered a pizza, which he ate alone at home.

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There were leftovers, which he eventually threw away.

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After a couple weeks, the manager returned and called a meeting where he asked his employees what they did with their turkeys.

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The assistant to the manager said, sir, I wrapped your turkey in bacon, stuffed it with sausage, and served it with my family and my neighbors.

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It was a huge hit.

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Also, my neighbor just happens to run a print shop and is now a new client.

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The manager replied, great job.

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You are an amazing and faithful assistant.

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You prove that you can be trusted with even a small gift.

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Now I will put you in charge of much more.

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I'm having a party tonight with very important clients.

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You are invited.

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The salesman who received the Organical Foods Turkey reported to his boss how he deep-fried the turkey and brought it to his girlfriend's house and how it was a huge hit.

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He also reported that he too signed a new client at his Thanksgiving or Christmas gift together.

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The manager replied, you too have proven that I can trust you with a little.

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I can trust you with even more.

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You are also invited to my party this evening.

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Then the temp who received the great value of turkey spoke up and said, sir, I know that you are a nightmare boss.

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It was never happening no matter what I do.

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Plus, you closed sales that I started and called my clients without my permission.

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I didn't want to make you upset, so I cleared out the break fridge and put your turkey in there.

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You can have it back.

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His manager responded, you horrible and lazy temp, if you really think that I call your clients and close your sales, then you should have at least given the turkey to another salesman who would have cooked it and shared it with a potential client.

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Then, when I returned, there would have at least been a chance that someone enjoyed the turkey and maybe someone would have landed the client.

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Take the turkey away from them.

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Give it to the assistant manager to all who I have given gifts to even more will be given to the point where there will be even extra.

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But to those who despise my gifts, I will take away all my gifts.

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Please escort this temp out of the office and onto the street.

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Let them see what it's like to live without my gifts.

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It will be harsh.

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Whenever I read a parable, either the original or retelling, I ask this question first.

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Who is Christ in the parable?

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Now, I'll give you a hint.

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In the parables in the Bible, Christ is usually the one in charge, the king, the manager, or he's the one doing the real work, sewing and reading.

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So, in this version of the parable, Christ is the boss, who's about to leave for a time but return.

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So, you remember, this parable is part of a bigger discourse where the disciples really are acting like kind of dumb sheep.

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Jesus keeps saying time and time again, I'm going to be leaving but you're going to be okay.

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I'm going to be leaving but you're going to be okay.

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And the sheep, the disciples are freaking out.

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You're saying you're going to leave, are we going to be okay?

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And it keeps reminding them you're going to be okay.

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I've got you as things fall apart around you.

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Remember that I care for you in small and big ways.

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That's his message throughout this end of the world discourse that he gives.

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So then we have to ask ourselves, what's the turkey in the parable?

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In the original parable it's sometimes called talents, which is a fancy word for big bags of gold.

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What are the bags of gold? What's the turkey?

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First and foremost, I want you to realize it's not necessarily talents you have.

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It's the message of the gospel.

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That's the biggest gift you have been given.

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It's the message that you are completely right with God, the creator of the universe.

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Not because of anything you have done, any of the work you've done or tried to do or left undone.

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You are right with God because of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ given to you as if it's your own.

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All of his righteousness, all of his work given to you and you get credit for it.

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You are right with God. That is the turkey.

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That's the gift you have been given.

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Secondly, the bag of gold, the talents, the turkey is also those other gifts that God gives you.

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As you rest in the true gift of the gospel, you can start to think about the other gifts God has given you.

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The gifts that flow out of the gospel, what I like to call gospel gifts.

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Your time, your skills, your love, your mercy, your forgiveness, your grace you show others.

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And yes, your money and more tangible gifts that God has given you.

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So then we have to ask ourselves, who are we in a parable?

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And it's usually not an answer you like to hear.

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It's usually whoever is struggling in a parable.

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But in this parable we've got kind of two options, don't we?

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We've got the good servants, the good employees, and we've got the temp.

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And you're probably both times on ship.

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Let's look at the temp first because the temp actually has some interesting things to say.

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The temp just might be completely right about what he says to the boss.

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You're never happy with the work I do. It's never good enough.

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That is 100% true.

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God demands of us perfection, perfect work to be right with him.

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So isn't it amazing he gives us that gift in Christ?

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So the temp is right. He calls it. God, you demand perfection.

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And I can't do it. I'm never going to make you happy.

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But then he says something even more beautiful.

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You take what's not yours, and that's exactly what God does.

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He takes your sin.

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He closes the sales for you. He makes things right for you.

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He does the work for you. As you're working out in the world, trying to do what's right, he closes the sale.

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In the end, he really does give credit for everything.

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And I think that's what the temp doesn't like.

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Why he refuses the gift because it's not something he did or he's not going to get credit for it.

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So don't be a temp.

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Take the gift to the gospel, and instead of burying it in the back of a freezer, do something with it.

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And this is where we get to talk about those good servants.

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You and me, taking the gift God has given us, what does that look like?

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That's where it gets confusing.

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Who here has cooked a Thanksgiving or Christmas roast or turkey?

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Yeah, it can be complicated and overwhelming. I remember the first time I tried to cook a turkey.

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I went to Barnes & Noble, I went to the cookbook aisle and pulled down every celebrity chef's cookbook.

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Martha Stewart, Gordon Ramsay, Janney Oliver, those are my big dreams.

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Pulled down every cookbook I could find and looked up the perfect turkey recipe.

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And when I found out, they all contradict each other.

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Roasted at a high temperature first, no, don't do that, do that last.

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Face it, don't face it. Wrap it in bacon, oh no, don't do that.

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Spat's chocked at deep-fried it, no, we've heard the house sound.

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You can't find one perfect recipe for turkey.

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This is what Christian life is like. If you meander down the aisle at Barnes & Noble,

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pass the cookbooks to the Christian life books.

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You'll find recipe after recipe after recipe for what a disciple looks like.

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And many of those books tell you this is the perfect recipe for Christian life.

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Know this is the perfect recipe for Christian life.

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And you know what? Just like the cookbooks, they contradict each other.

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And sometimes they contradict the description.

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So here's the beautiful truth.

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As good servants who have been given a gift from God, the way you bake your turkey

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is going to look different than other people.

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There are lots of ways to cook a beautiful turkey.

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Fry it, spat's chocked at a grill it, bake it, I've done them all.

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And that's what Christian life is like.

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As you take God's gifts and do things with them, it's going to be difficult at first.

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It's going to feel strange.

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It's going to get easier over time and you're going to see other people's recipes

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and you're going to learn different things and you're going to find there are infinite ways

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to put God's gifts at work.

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The only thing you shouldn't do is leave it in the freezer or serve it cold to other people.

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One final story before we wrap up.

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The best Thanksgiving meal I ever had started off as the worst Thanksgiving I ever had.

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I moved to Georgia right out of college and looking for a job and what I ended up with

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was a security guard position at a private school.

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And my job was, when the school wasn't in session, my job was to tell people to leave the campus.

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It was a cool campus. Football field, playgrounds, walking tracks, all that stuff, a lake.

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My job was to tell people not to have fun, to leave.

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And I drew the short straw and had to be the security guard on Thanksgiving Day from 9am to 9pm.

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My first Thanksgiving away from my family.

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I don't think I mentioned this before.

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I cry quite a bit, but most of the time I cry over food.

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And I had a rough day that day shopping for my frozen Thanksgiving meal that I took to my job.

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And then spent the whole day watching families who were just feasted on their pieces at home

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coming and trying to walk off the calories and me telling them, no, you gotta go home.

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And at 4pm, a lady showed up with her dog to go for a walk and I had to tell her, no, leave.

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And I was almost that much taking a bite.

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And she stared at me, gave me a look, and finally just left.

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Hour and a half later, as I'm sitting down with my frozen cardboard turkey meal,

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I see that lady show up again and start to get out of her bed.

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And I walk out of the side, past my taking a bite, losing it.

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Crying over the food, crying over not being with my family, and crying that I got to deal with this lady again.

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And I walk up towards her, she gets out, and I say, ma'am.

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And she says, hold on, young ma'am, the finger raised in the air.

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And I don't know if you've ever been a young man before.

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The last thing you want to hear is young ma'am.

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But I did. I waited for a second as I composed myself.

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She walked around the back of her van, opened up the hatch, and starts to hand me

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hot, steamy dishes of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, all the business.

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Best Thanksgiving I've ever had.

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Her tipping point, her sharing the gift she had with me, I don't even know her name, changed my life like that.

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She didn't literally share with me the gospel, but she shared with me the gospel.

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God did not give you leftover gifts.

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God joyfully shared his best with you to the tipping point.

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He gives you the gift of Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection for you.

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You get to rest in the truth that he will do all the work of making things right between you and him,

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and will return and make all things right.

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In the meantime, as he fills you to the tipping point, he will joyfully use you and others in beautiful

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and unexpected ways to share his gospel, his good news, and gifts with others.

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That is seriously good news that you can rest in and be thankful for. Amen.