I heard another story too, it's very powerful, and this woman was a hairdresser, and she was thinking: what can I do? Anyway, she heard the message about the talents, and she said: what can I do with what I've got? I don't know much of the Bible, but what I can do is, I can cut people's hair. So, she's walking through the street, and she went past a strip club. The Lord said: go and offer the girls there to do their hair before they perform.
Of course, you understand that's a radical thought for many church people! She went in, and they said: yeah, what do you want? She said: well, I'm a hairdresser, I'd love to just come for the girls before they perform, and I'd like to just do their hair for them, make them look beautiful. They were shocked, and she said: I'll do it for free; and so she would come, and then of course, she's got time sitting there with the girls, and she began to talk to them, and the girls were really happy. They're having their hair done for free, and she was very clever what she did. Anyway, eventually she said she brought something along for them, messages for them and whatever, and would share a little bit with them. Eventually, all of them got saved! Remember, it was just a simple little thing she had, but with the hand of God on it, it produced a huge result.
So, here's how the third servant failed. He undervalued what had been given. He didn't value his importance. Interesting enough, Paul talks to Timothy about the danger of the same thing…
1 Timothy 4:14 – “Don't neglect (or look down on, or minimise) the gift that's in you, which is given you with prophecy, by the laying on of hands of the eldership…”.
That word ‘neglect’ means: to be careless; or make light of; or consider not much value. He said: don't do that,
“…but rather meditate, and then give yourself to that gift”.
So again, it's the same kind of concept. Don't look down on the things God's entrusted to you, but pray over them, and just use them to what you have, to do what you can with them. So, the first thing then was, he undervalued the gift.
Secondly, he didn't understand the plan that Jesus had - to qualify him, for sharing and rulership. If you understood clearly what's at stake, for you being faithful now, then you'd be faithful now. Clearly, he didn't understand; and the plan of the king was: use your time now, to develop faithfulness and prove faithfulness, and when I return, because you've proven faithful, I will entrust to you much more.
Revelations 2:26 – “He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, him I will give power over the nations”.
God's intention is to put us in a place of royal authority in the coming kingdom, but if we don't understand the plan, then we won't prepare. If we don't prepare, we will have the same experience that servant had.
Notice how Jesus described him... He described him as ‘wicked, lazy and unprofitable’, exactly the opposite of the other two, where He said: ‘well done, good and faithful servant’. He called him wicked, meaning your behaviour, it's not evil. Your behaviour causes me anguish, because I planned so much for you. Your behaviour has a negative influence on others, because they're discouraged by your lukewarmness. He called him ‘lazy’ (or slothful); so basically, He's saying: you lack any passion, or diligence, in serving Jesus, and your influence is quite negative on others.
Romans 12:11 – “Don't be slothful in business, but be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
God's desire, whatever we do, is to be passionate, be fervent in spirit; and in all you do, serve the Lord in it.
The fourth thing about the servant is, he made nothing of his life. He just didn't do anything. That’s what he did wrong. He withheld his abilities, and time, from serving the Lord. Doesn't that describe large numbers of Christians? They will come to a service so they can be blessed, and that's great to do that; but they withhold their abilities, and their time, from serving God. He hasn't demonstrated love and loyalty in the master's absence. He's hoarded when he should've conserved - he should've invested. He's got no sense of responsibility. His focus is entirely on himself.