Excuses Will Not Work
Then he who had received the one talent came and said, “Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.” (Matthew 25:24-25)
In the larger context of His return to judge the nations, Jesus told a parable about a master who, before leaving on a trip, gave his servants different amounts of money to be responsible for. When called to account, the servants responsible for five and two talents (amounts of money) made a good return on their master’s money. But the servant given only one talent made his report in these two verses.
Note that the master judged each servant individually. If they were taken as a group, they did very well: 8 talents given and 15 talents returned. Yet each one was judged on their individual faithfulness and effort.
This last servant, who merely buried his talent, tried to excuse himself because of his master’s great power. In fact, he believed his master to be in some sense omnipotent (reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed).
The third servant seemed proud of himself. Because the master was so powerful and (in the mind of the servant) didn’t need his help, the third servant thought that the master would be pleased that he did nothing and could say, Look, there you have what is yours. He seemed to have no idea how much he had displeased his master.
We can say of the work of the third servant:
He didn’t think.
He didn’t work.
He didn’t even try.
He made excuses.
The following verses give the master’s rebuke of this third, unfaithful servant. The master called him “wicked and lazy,” and denied the excuse that the master was a man of great power. The sovereignty of the master never excused the laziness of the servant. It condemned that laziness even more.
Those who don’t work for the Lord, or pray, or don’t evangelize because God is sovereign condemn themselves by their laziness. By their actions (or lack of action) they show that they are like the wicked servant in the parable. They do not know their Master’s heart at all. Their excuses won’t help at all. Like this unfaithful third servant, the excuses will make them more guilty, not less.
Many people are good at making excuses. If excuse-making ever became an Olympic event, they would probably win a gold medal. Some excuse-makers even try to do what this third servant did – hope to put the blame of God. They think that God’s sovereignty and limitless power mean they have no responsibility.
It doesn’t work that way. In the parable Jesus told, each servant was judged individually, properly, and with perfect understanding. If you have been successful fooling others, remember your excuses will not work before God.