I Don’t Want to Be That Guy
- Larry Kutzler
- Mar 19
- 3 min read
Matthew 25:24-27 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
I suppose there are many people in the Bible that you would not want to be like, let alone suffer their fate. Out of all the characters in the Bible, which ones come to mind where you wouldn’t want to be ‘that guy?’
For me, it is the guy in the parable of the talents who hides what God had given him to invest, and when it came time to give an account of what he did with the talent, he basically said, “I didn’t lose it”.
Now think about that. He didn’t lose it. So, what else did he do with it? He didn’t gamble it because he didn’t have more nor did he have less. He didn’t waste it in riotous living like the Prodigal Son because he still had all that was given to him. In general, he was probably a pretty responsible person and he didn’t want to take a risk with someone else’s money … so he hid it. Sounds fairly reasonable, doesn’t it? But that’s not what the owner wanted him to do. He wanted the man to invest the money he was given in some kind of way that it would make more money, just like the other two counterparts that did invest. In the end, this seemingly honest man was overtaken by his fear, his preoccupation with safety and security, and he probably just didn’t want the responsibility of doing anything but keeping the one talent safe.
This story shows how many of us live our Christian lives. Some will go to the ends of the earth with their investment of faith, while others will be faithful at home working with ministries that help people. Yet others are like this fellow with one talent who was content with going to Church every week and hearing a sermon. He was hiding in Church and hiding behind a sermon or two. There is not a lot of investment by hiding in Church. The investment that God makes in you is always based upon His assessment of whether you are a good investment with His treasure of the Gospel.
Are you a good investment? What will you do with the treasure of the Gospel? Will you keep it to yourself by hiding it in a Church, or will you invest it somehow in the in the lives of others?
The end result did not go well for this man with one talent; he was stripped of what he did have and thrown out into the outer darkness. Was he no longer a servant, you ask? You have to wonder since he was not invited to stay with his master. I believe there will be many who are hiding in our Churches and pretending to be Christians. The investment of the talents, as I understand them, was always a test to see how faithful each servant was to the master and to the treasure he entrusted to them.
I just know that I don’t want to be that guy with just the one talent who was busy being spiritual at Church and hiding within the Christian culture. He did not understand how to invest the gift of the Gospel that he was given. Do you?
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler