What does it look like to be fully devoted?

Lukewarm Christians.

It's these kinds of Christians that Jesus is describing in Matthew 25, in the parable of the wicked servant.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag 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. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. 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 two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; 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 one bag of gold 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. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
So, when it comes to faith, most of us are just playing it safe. And after the times I have been this third servant, you know, if you look at his life and, in the profile, here, he doesn't really do anything wrong. Like, what does he do that's wrong? He took the one talent. He kept it. He didn't go and spend it.
 
He didn't go off and just waste it. He returned the master's talent back to him. So, what did he do wrong? Verse 26 it says,

“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? 27 Well 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.
So, I don't know if the master was like, you know, you should have called my financial advisor at Edward Jones and like, move to the money into a more aggressive investment plan, you know, how can you just bring it back? You haven't really doubled its I don't know if that's what's going on here, but he says in verse 28,
 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Why was the servant called wicked? He didn't lie. He didn't steal. He didn't cheat anyone out of anything. The reason that he is called wicked is because God expects us to use what we have for His purposes and for His glory.
He is not called wicked because he took the one talent and didn't turn it into ten.

God doesn't expect us to do with our life what someone else does with theirs. There is no comparison when it comes to what God has called us to do and gifted us to do and expects us to do.

The servant is called wicked because he plays it safe.

He takes what he has and keeps it and then takes no risk, does not step out. There's not a measure of faith. There's sort of, you know, relying on God. It's just basically pull it close to the vest and saying, we're just going to ride this thing out, wait until he comes back.
Who would blame him for that? But there are sins of commission and there are also sins of omission. And I believe that the servant has committed a sin of omission. These sins of commission are sins that are obvious since we commit by doing something, we, we, we commit an action. The sin. We lie, we have greed. We cheat someone outside of something.

We commit sexual sins. Those are sins of omission like sins that we are actively doing. But there are also sins of omission. Sins of omission are things that we don't do, that we are commanded to do by God. But when we don't do them, that is a form of disobedience. That is what we never talk about. We often talk about sins of commission and that we really sort of build our lives around avoiding those sins.
Right? The fire insurance like as long as I avoid the sins of commission, I'm good with God. But the sins of omission, I would say, are just as destructive disobedience. Either way, sins of omission, including like in this parable in Matthew 25, using our life and talents for the kingdom, that's the sin of omission. When we don't when we fail to do that, when God calls us to be generous and we're not generous, that's a sin of omission.

When God calls us to share the good news of Jesus Christ and we don't share the good news, that's a sin of omission. So spiritual intensity is not just about avoiding the sins of omission, avoiding the sense that are the sins and, you know, the sins that get us fired or tear up our marriage or tear up our relationships.
 
Spiritual intensity is about pursuing a relationship with God passionately in his presence and offering our resources for other people in his kingdom.

​Using what God has given us for what really matters is how we live a fully devoted life.