Luke 19 verses 26-27. “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them – bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”
So amongst the people who have to account to Jesus when he comes back again is this man who only had the one mina and does nothing with it.
In the parable Jesus reminds us that the nobleman had his enemies (v 14). His subjects hated him and rebelled against him. Did the man who did nothing with his resource number himself amongst those who rebelled? This unfaithful servant had one thing about him that would mark him out as an unbeliever and that was his concept of the King (v 20). He suggests that it was his lord’s fault that he did nothing, because his lord was a person who always expected something for nothing (v 21).
Now do you think a true believer, one who believes that Jesus died for him and obtained forgiveness of sins, would ever tell Christ he was too afraid to work for Him in case he made a mistake and was unduly punished for it? Of course not! Ask yourself however what your own personal behaviour is now at this moment, saying, about what you think of Jesus. If we are not ourselves faithfully doing what we can to advance His cause, if we are not using the resources He has entrusted to our care, are we any better than this unfaithful servant?
So whether he was a believer or an unbeliever this servant has his mina taken away. Perhaps we should say that failure to work for the Lord will not cost a believer his salvation, but it certainly does seem to affect his reward (1 Corinthians 3 v 15). But even in saying that, we need to be careful. We are not suggesting that the man in this parable was finally saved, or unsaved. Remember it is only a parable. But it does suggest a serious loss for those who do not value their master and his salvation seriously. But whether our Lord intended this character to be the subject of this kind of discussion or not, this much is clear – failure to work for the Lord has tragic consequences. The servants in this parable who worked faithfully for Christ – who lived honestly and with true Christian integrity, discovered that their faithfulness had a huge effect. When Jesus comes the ten minas brought authority over ten cities. It is a law of the Kingdom that to the one who already has, more will be given (v 26). Even in this life, the more we seek to please Christ, the more we seem to grow, understand and exercise influence on others. The more you seek to understand the Word of God, the more understanding will be given to you. To those who have more will be given!
But those who are enemies of Christ will meet a sure judgement (v 27).