Possible Reasons for Missing the Opportunity
I was too impressed in letting people know what it is to miss the opportunity and therefore as a continuation of the previous sermon I want to take up on this issue of the possible reasons. To explain this I have taken the parable of Jesus in the book of Matthew 25:14-28. it would be splendid for us read through the passage before we go for any further explanation.
"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ’Master,’ he said, ’you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21"His master replied, ’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!’ 22"The man with the two talents also came. ’Master,’ he said, ’you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ 23"His master replied, ’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!’
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. ’Master,’ he said, ’I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ 26"His master replied, ’You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28" ’Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
I want to explain about the servant who had the one talent, I think in my understanding there are at least 5 possible reasons for this servant to miss the chance.
The first one being: LAZINESS
Let me read few scriptures before I go on to explain – first Proverbs 10:4 Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. Ecclesiastes 10:18 If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks. The servant was basically lazy since if he had make some from what the owner had given he had to work. I am sure laziness is a problem fro everyone but it is important that we consciously overcome it. I read about laziness and I thought I should share this - Sheer laziness has probably been responsible for more shortcuts, not to mention valuable inventions, than we are ready to admit. Most of us are continually on the lookout, at least subconsciously, for easier ways to perform onerous or routine tasks. An example of imagination spurred on by outright lethargy is contained in the story of an old mountaineer and his wife who were sitting in front of the fireplace one evening just whiling away the time. After a long silence, the wife said: "Jed, I think it’s raining. Get up and to outside and see." The old mountaineer continued to gaze into the fire for a second, sighed, then said, "Aw, Ma, why don’t we just call in the dog and see if he’s wet." Really true sometimes we are lazy to this extent, but let God give us his grace to overcome this laziness. (Bits & Pieces, April 29, 1993, p. 3.)
The second reason is WICKEDNESS
Proverbs 5:21-22 For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.
Proverbs 12:3 A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.
Ecclesiastes 7:15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
Ecclesiastes 8:8 No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
I have quoted some of those important scriptures concerning wickedness, the servant with one talent was wicked because he knew that his master was hard and harvest where he has not sown. He though it will be good for him hide out the money and remain cool, but little did he know that his wickedness is ready to pay him the prize. The story is told of a farmer in a Midwestern state who had a strong disdain for "religious" things. As he plowed his field on Sunday morning, he would shake his fist at the church people who passed by on their way to worship. October came and the farmer had his finest crop ever--the best in the entire county. When the harvest was complete, he placed an advertisement in the local paper which belittled the Christians for their faith in God. Near the end of his diatribe he wrote, "Faith in God must not mean much if someone like me can prosper." The response from the Christians in the community was quiet and polite. In the next edition of the town paper, a small ad appeared. It read simply, "God doesn’t always settle His accounts in October." (William E. Brown in Making Sense of Your Faith.) so never be worried about the wicked prospering cause one day you and I will surely know that the wicked had to perish.
The possible third reason is LACK of FAITHFULNESS
Proverbs 3:3-4 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. This scripture is strong reality which brought blessing upon the other two servants whereas the one with the one talent was cursed. Faithfulness is lacking in today’s context since faithfulness calls for accountability and responsibility which many are not willing to adhere to. Mark Hatfield tells of touring Calcutta with Mother Teresa and visiting the so-called "House of Dying," where sick children are cared for in their last days, and the dispensary, where the poor line up by the hundreds to receive medical attention. Watching Mother Teresa minister to these people, feeding and nursing those left by others to die, Hatfield was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the suffering she and her co-workers face daily. "How can you bear the load without being crushed by it?" he asked. Mother Teresa replied, "My dear Senator, I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful." (Beyond Hunger, Beals) I think this is the testimony that the Lord is expecting from each of us.
The fourth reason being LACK of HARD WORK
Proverbs 14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Proverbs 18:9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.
These days people don’t work hard they hardly work. This is another major reason for people to miss on the opportunity, people don’t like working hard, they want everything easy. The wicked servant did not want to work that is why he hid his talent, he knew if he had to multiply he has put in effort without which it will not multiply. Let me share an illustration that I read few weeks ago. On the little counter in front of the bench on which the owner of the shop sat, was a Bible, generally open, and a pile of gospel tracts. No package went out of that shop without a printed message wrapped inside. And whenever opportunity offered, the customers were spoken to kindly and tactfully about the importance of being born again and the blessedness of knowing that the soul is saved through faith in Christ. Many came back to ask for more literature or to inquire more particularly as to how they might find peace with God, with the blessed results that men and women were saved, frequently right in the shoe shop.
It was my chief responsibility to pound leather for shoe soles. A piece of cowhide would be cut to suite, then soaked in water. I had a flat piece of iron over my knees and, with a flat-headed hammer, I pounded these soles until they were hard and dry. It seemed an endless operation to me, and I wearied of it many times.
What made my task worse was the fact that, a block away, there was another shop that I passed going and coming to or from my home, and in it sat a jolly, godless cobbler who gathered the boys of the neighborhood about him and regaled them with lewd tales that made him dreaded by respectable parents as a menace to the community. Yet, somehow, he seemed to thrive and that perhaps to a greater extent than my employer, Mackay. As I looked in his window, I often noticed that he never pounded the soles at all, but took them from the water, nailed them on, damp as they were, and with the water splashing from them as he drove each nail in.
One day I ventured inside, something I had been warned never to do. Timidly, I said, "I notice you put the soles on while still wet. Are they just as good as if they were pounded?" He gave me a wicked leer as he answered, "They come back all the quicker this way, my boy!"
"Feeling I had learned something, I related the instance to my boss and suggested that I was perhaps wasting time in drying out the leather so carefully. Mr. Mackay stopped his work and opened his Bible to the passage that reads, "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of god."
"Harry," he said, "I do not cobble shoes just for the four bits and six bits (50c or 75c) that I get from my customers. I am doing this for the glory of God. I expect to see every shoe I have ever repaired in a big pile at the judgment seat of Christ, and I do not want the Lord to say to me in that day, ’Dan, this was a poor job. You did not do your best here.’ I want Him to be able to say, ’Well done, good and faithful servant.’"
Then he went on to explain that just as some men are called to preach, so he was called to fix shoes, and that only as he did this well would his testimony count for God. It was a lesson I have never been able to forget. Often when I have been tempted to carelessness, and to slipshod effort, I have thought of dear, devoted Dan Mackay, and it has stirred me up to seek to do all as for Him who died to redeem me. (H. A. Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 37-39.)
The last and the fifth reason is WISE in their OWN SENSE
Proverbs 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
Proverbs 14:16 A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless. The servant thought to himself that he was very smart in answering the master about his smartness the bible tells us that we must fear the Lord and shun evil and never be wise in our won sense which will lead to destruction. There’s a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge. He walked up to the muscular philosopher and said, "O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge."
Socrates recognized a pompous numbskull when he saw one. He led the young man through the streets, to the sea, and chest deep into water. Then he asked, "What do you want?"
"Knowledge, O wise Socrates," said the young man with a smile.
Socrates put his strong hands on the man’s shoulders and pushed him under. Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up. "What do you want?" he asked again.
"Wisdom," the young man sputtered, "O great and wise Socrates."
Socrates crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty. Socrates let him up. The man was gasping. "What do you want, young man?"
Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, "Knowledge, O wise and wonderful..."
Socrates jammed him under again Forty seconds passed. Fifty. "What do you want?" "Air!" the young man screeched. "I need air!"
"When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge." (M. Littleton, Moody Monthly, June 1989, p. 29.)
Conclusion:
The reasons for missing the opportunity are Laziness, Wickedness, Lack of Faithfulness, Lack of Hard work and being Wise in one’s own sense. With this if you examine yourself you should be able to see the reason for why you have missed an opportunity. I want to quote from Napolean Hill “Opportunity often comes in disguised - in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.”
God bless You, Amen
