Ready or Not: Living as Faithful Servants Before the Master Returns

You know that everyone's plans, all of us plan our actions in the present based

on what we believe the future is likely to hold.

And a person who thinks that, for example, rain is likely to fall will make

that belief evident by the fact that they've rolled up the windows on their car.

A person who believes that the value of a certain stock is about to rise will

act on that belief by investing their money in that particular stock,

or if you're wise, in a fund that contains many stocks for diversification, right?

But towards the end of chapter 9 here, Luke tells us that as the time approached

for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

That's in Luke 9 verse 51.

Luke 9:51

And the second half of Luke's gospel here unfold, y'all, in light of that larger purpose.

And each encounter seems to move Jesus closer to his death in Jerusalem.

I want y'all to see that in the second part of the gospel.

The tone of the whole second half of Luke also shifts noticeably.

And as Jesus spends more time preparing his disciples for life in the time between

his departure and his return in glory and judgment.

So that's the setting. That's where we're at. And then in this passage,

we find Jesus actually addressing his disciples. And in chapter 12,

verse 40, he gives them a key piece of information about the future.

What does he say? Look at it again. Verse 40, the son of man will come at an

hour when you least expect or do not expect him.

When is Jesus coming back church?

When you least expect it, right? Jesus actually often referred to himself as

the Son of Man, capital S, capital M.

Luke 5, 24, 7, 34, we see that. It's a term that's echoed, you know,

an Old Testament vision of end time glory and authority.

It's found back in Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14.

Daniel 7:13

And here Jesus actually describes a day when his crucifixion,

resurrection, and ascension into heaven will be in the past and he will return to earth.

And in the brief teachings about masters and servants that surround Luke in

Luke 12, 40, Jesus makes it clear, y'all, that when he returns,

it will be in order to bring judgment.

Blessings for those who are faithful, punishment for the unfaithful.

And so I want y'all to get that today.

There's good and bad servants, as we see on this first slide.

Good and bad servants. Look at verse 36 through 38.

Jesus describes the reward that servants might receive for their diligence while

waiting for their master to return.

If a master returned to his home after the household had gone to bed,

verse 38 imagines an arrival that took place in the middle of the night or in

the toward daybreak and with no advance warning.

Remember, this was a world y'all without phones and

email okay I mean it's hard

for us to get that but it was and he would

be very pleased to find according to

this passage that his servants were awake and waiting for him the fact that

they were keeping watch for their master even when they had no special reason

to expect his return at that moment actually testified to the fact that they were loyal servants.

This kind of servant would receive a most unusual reward.

The master himself, if you remember reading, would take their role.

He would seat them at his table in verse 37 and serve them himself.

Wow. And that leads us to our first thing here on this slide.

The master's return will be good for servants who are caught being faithful.

Let me say that again. The master's return will be good for servants who are caught being faithful.

Do you want to be caught being faithful when Jesus returns? I mean,

wow, what an aspiration, what a desire of our heart to be caught being faithful.

Another example, verse 42 through 44, it deals not with servants in general,

but with one in particular who is appointed as a manager.

And this manager is placed in charge of the master's servants,

specifically had a task to provide food for them at the proper time in verse 42.

And when the master returns and finds the manager actually fulfilling his appointed

role, it will be good for that servant, it says in verse 43.

The master will respond to his servant's faithfulness by what?

It says by putting him in charge of everything that he owns.

While this principle does apply broadly, y'all, we should note here that it

serves as a reminder for those who would serve as leaders in Christ's church.

Sunday school teachers, pastors, deacons, committee team chairs,

all those, even parents, by the way, you're a leader.

Pastors are servants of Christ who also manage or charge to provide spiritual

food for their fellow servants, right?

They're to discharge the duties faithfully until

christ returns at which point it will be good for them and good for you if you

god has given you this leadership role you're a manager over something but get

this as we see on this slide as well not all servants are rewarded for the way

that they conduct themselves.

Instead of faithfully waiting for their master's return, the servant described,

look at verse 45 and 46 there, responds to the uncertainty surrounding the timing

of their master's return. What do they do?

By beating the servants and stuffing themselves with food and drink.

You see, when the master returns unexpectedly in verse 46 that we read earlier,

the punishment he actually meets out is even more shocking than the reward that's

described in verse 37 about him serving those who serve him right what does

it say here what will be the fate of these the master will cut the servant to pieces.

That's real stuff, y'all. I mean, obviously we said here that expression should

most likely be understood to represent figuratively, right, some kind of extreme severe punishment.

Because if it were literal, it's hard to understand how the servant could be

also assigned to a place with the unbelievers, right?

And so as we see here on this next point, to be placed with unbelievers,

don't lose this, to be placed with unbelievers, the Greek word is literally faithless.

It's an appropriate result for a servant who has been unfaithful to his master.

The punishment for this servant here is what?

Total rejection by his returned master, and he's assigned a place with the unbelievers.

Yes, you could view it as a pretender, right?

Well, it really does come down, church, to a matter of faithfulness,

as we see on this next slide.

The meaning of these parables doesn't lie far beneath the surface, does it?

Following his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus would ascend into heaven for

a time, and when he returns, and by the way, how many of you are looking forward

to the second coming of Jesus?

When he returns, he will reward or punish his servants based on their faithfulness

to him during the time that he wasn't present physically.

And by the way, I want you to know in this passage, the terms here that's used,

if you look at it this way, we can be God's servants as his children, right?

And as his slaves, as it says literally, but also here, everyone is really a

servant of God in a general sense.

God is the master in the sense of he is ruler of all.

So everyone is in a general sense, but those who are his servants actually are faithful.

They're his faithful servants. And what is less clear here is whom the servants

in the parables do represent somewhat in verse 41.

Let's look at this. Peter actually asked this question.

Look at verse 41. He says, whether Jesus intends these teachings for us,

that is the disciples, they're mentioned in verse 22, or more broadly for everyone,

both professing believers, basically, and unbelievers.

Well, Jesus does not answer the question directly,

but his response actually contrasts a faithful manager in verse 42 and a servant

who winds up being placed with the unbelievers in verse 46.

Literally the faithless.

Okay. So again, just all throughout the Bible, I mean, I see here,

even through all the parables, I've shared this with you before,

there's the true and the false, right?

The faithful and the unfaithful, the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the

tares, the good fish, the bad fish.

And in the following verses, Jesus actually introduces y'all a distinction between

a servant who knows there's master's will, but chooses not to do it in verse 47.

Now I just want to briefly survey everybody in here who comes to Eastwood Baptist

Church who is exposed to the word of God in any way shape or form at least has

some semblance of what your master's will is right.

Like, you know, it's not like we're having somebody who is in some place in

the deepest, darkest jungle somewhere that may not have the privileges we have always, right?

But those of us that are here in the West and that do come to church,

a lot of times we do know what God expects of us, okay?

And the one who earns punishment for themselves without knowing any better,

verse 48 here, The former is going to be characterized, that first one I just said,

by professing Christians, especially leaders, who know Jesus' will,

but choose not to obey it.

They'll be what, according to this passage, beaten with many blows.

In other words, disciplined, right? If you're his child, if I'm his child,

God is a faithful, loving father.

He's going to discipline us because all parents who love their kids discipline

them. If they don't, they hate them. They prove it.

Okay. And that's basically what God says. You're my children.

You will be disciplined.

If you're not my child, and he says this plainly in scripture,

if you're a bastard, basically, right? You're unfaithful. You're not my child.

Obviously you're not in that sense right you're

you're not under the lord's discipline except here at

the judgment where you'll be placed with the unbelievers right

but you're beat with many blows those that know the things to do but choose

not to do it and then the latter here like i said those that may not be exposed

you know that that are in places they may not have as much access to the Word

of God or access to biblical teaching, right?

The latter are here, you know, looking at here, the unbelievers,

they're servants of Jesus as well in the general sense that we talked about,

no less obligated to serve the one who is indisputably the master of all people

in all places, but they don't know how to do so, so thus their punishment will be relatively less.

And by the way, I'm not going to get into this, but as you know as well,

even those that unbelievers who are separated from Christ for all eternity,

and we'll talk about this more down the road,

there's even from the biblical perspective, even degrees of punishment in hell.

Okay. And so he's saying here that their punishment will be relatively less.

And in the end, though, as we see on this slide, in the end,

it's a matter of stewardship.

Much will be expected from the one who has been entrusted with what? Much, right?

Entrusted with knowledge and given responsibility for Christ's servants.

In other words, Eastwood, those of us that are coming to church here, that read God's word,

that live here and that are active in church and that are studying his word,

that have been exposed to Christianity down here, and we know the word of God,

we know the truth, right?

Much is given to us, much is expected. Others are still obligated to serve Jesus,

but their responsibility is relatively less.

And it may seem hard to, some of you may be thinking this a little bit,

to reconcile Jesus' words here with the message of grace and forgiveness is

at the heart of the gospel.

It's certainly true that when Jesus returns, the only hope church that any of

us have is located in Christ's mercy and forgiveness, amen?

Not in our own merit. It is his faithfulness that saves us, not our own as far as salvation.

And believers in Christ never need to fear that they might be condemned in the

final judgment either. John 5 tells us that.

But this is so important, and we show this on the screen, Jesus never allows

us to separate our trust in him from our obedience to him.

Amen? Jesus never allows us to separate our trust in him from our obedience to him.

Luke 6, 43 through 46 should tell us all that.

Following Jesus's commands is a mark church that distinguishes a true believer

from someone who merely pays lip service to Jesus as his or her master.

A servant, In other words, as we see here on this next point,

a servant who is fundamentally disobedient is a faithless or unbelieving servant.

You see, it's all about our walk, right? Remember I talked about scripture talks

about our walk. That's our way of life.

That's what we believe. That's what we live out.

It's not just lip service. It's the life that's lived. It's what we believe.

So if we are a servant who is fundamentally disobedient, we're a faithless or

unbelieving servant. That's the warning here.

Faithful servants can anticipate their master's pleasure and glorious reward.

It says in Matthew 25, but faithless servants can expect only what? Punishment.

Well, that brings us to that. We don't know when, do we? We don't know when.

We're talking about the second coming as well here of Jesus Christ.

We don't know when and the rapture and all that, right? We don't know when it's

going to take place. All we know is an hour and we don't expect it.

These parables serve as both an encouragement and a warning to us.

And at the heart, at their heart is the dynamic here of a master surprise return.

Luke 12, 38 and verse 46, it's easy to do, church, what is right when you know

that you're going to be held accountable for your actions.

But real faithfulness and integrity are demonstrated by doing what's right,

even when no one's looking, right?

Exactly. It's a matter of the heart.

And when we stop and we think about it, we do what's right when it doesn't seem

that there will be consequences for doing wrong.

So as we see on this slide, the servants show their true colors by how they

act when they do not expect their master's return.

Now, I did a survey earlier. I said, how many of you are just,

you would love for Jesus to come back again? You're getting ready.

And we all said, hallelujah, right?

But the question here lies to us is, are we going to live like that today and

tomorrow and the next day?

Are we going to live expectant lives?

Because here, the servants show their true colors by how they act when they

do not expect his return, right?

And every day of the week, there's probably going to be moments and times when we don't expect it.

I think some of those times is when we just choose to do our own thing,

even though we know what God's word has said to us and we go out and do our own thing.

And it's like, man, if Jesus were to come back right now, would you be considered faithful?

That's a question for us to ponder with every action, everything we do as we

live our lives, all of it.

In the same way here, when the son of man returns in an hour that we don't expect,

as it says in verse 40, his servants' true colors will be revealed.

If we really believe what we say we believe.

And there is a tension in the New Testament regarding the timing of Jesus' return.

We already discussed that to a point.

It's clear that we cannot know when it will occur other than we won't expect

it, but during his time on earth, Jesus himself, if you remember,

did not know when the time would be, right? Mark 13 tells us that.

Y'all all know this, you've seen it. Various cults and false prophets have claimed

to know when Jesus would return.

But Christians shouldn't be deceived. The Son of Man will return at an hour

we don't expect Him. We know that much.

But on the other side of that tension is the New Testament's witness that there

will be certain observable signs or events that will take place before he returns.

And later on, actually, in Luke's gospel, we read of signs in the heavens that

will serve as evidence that the time for Jesus has returned.

Listen to this briefly. There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars.

On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world,

for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

At that time, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

When these things begin to take place, stand up, lift up your heads, because what?

Your redemption is drawing nigh. It says in Luke 21.

It may require wisdom to know which events are being referred to by those passages, those signs.

But what is clear, church, is that there are things that must occur before Jesus returns.

And we can also look at various other passages, Mark chapter 13,

Mark 13 · chapter mention

2 Thessalonians chapter 2, to look at some of those.

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

So as we see on this slide here, we can say that with certain signs we'll perceive

Jesus' return, yet it will happen suddenly and in a way that actually defies

all of our attempts to pinpoint an exact time.

We can't do it, y'all. I could almost stand up here. I think of an old DeGarmo

and Key song. Anybody know who I'm talking about?

Ready or not. Ready or not.

He's coming. He's coming in an hour that we don't expect, in an hour possibly

that we're not anticipating, obviously, right? Are we going to be ready?

Are we faithful servants?

Those are good questions for us to ponder this morning.

In fact, if you want a more in-depth look at the examination of the biblical

data surrounding this, I recommend a great book.

And those of you that are into theology, if you don't have this book,

I recommend it to you. It's Dr. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.

If you're interested in that, if you just read that book, you will honestly

have a strong biblical foundation.

It's used in the University of Mobile and many schools or seminaries and all

that. It's a foundation for biblical systematic theology.

You may not necessarily agree with all of Dr. Grudem's conclusions,

possibly, but you'll benefit from the careful consideration that he gives to

the relevant biblical text that we've been looking at. I promise you that.

Dr. Wayne Grudem's systematic theology.

So what's the bottom line this morning? Therefore, be ready. Be ready.

Are you ready? Ready or not? All of Jesus' teaching here is aimed at producing

a response in his hearer.

As we see here, this first bullet point, knowledge of the future changes the

way we live in the present, Brother Ronnie.

Knowledge of the future changes the way we live in the present.

If a homeowner knew, think about it for a moment, when the thief was planning

to break into his house or her house, they would stay home and thwart the robbery, right?

Luke 12, 39, or at least call the cops and say they're coming at this time, right?

And in the same way, y'all, since we have been forewarned, get this,

that Jesus will return at a time we do not expect him,

we ought to take appropriate measures to make sure that we are among those who

are rewarded and not among those who are cut to pieces and numbered with unbelievers, right?

And those measures, y'all, are described in verse 35, where,

as we see here on this slide, Jesus tells his disciples what? Look at it, verse 35.

He tells his disciples to be dressed ready for service.

Literally, in Greek, your loins are to be girded ready for service.

Think about it like this, kind of like a modern day workman might lace up his

work boots, you know, roll up his sleeves, get ready to go on the job site.

People in the ancient world would actually tuck up their flowing garments in

order to engage in hard work.

And there may well be an allusion here even to the commandment that was actually

given to the Israelites in Exodus 12.

But in the same way here in Luke 12, 35, the disciples here are instructed to what?

Keep your lamps burning.

Oil lamps were put out at bedtime in order to save fuel.

Only somebody, y'all, keeping an alert watch would actually leave their lamp burning all night.

That sort of vigilance, as we see in this next point, and preparedness is the

only proper response to the fact that Jesus will return suddenly, church.

Jesus leaves it up to his hearers here to discern what preparedness looks like.

What does it look like? And as we see here on this next slide,

in context of loose gospel, we might speculate as to some behaviors that actually

comprise the faithfulness that Jesus will reward.

These might include the following, and I'm going to talk about them each briefly.

First of all, fear of the Lord. That's in verse 5 in that chapter.

Fear of the Lord. I was talking with our crowd the other Sunday night.

We live in a culture, unfortunately, that we have great fear of men,

but little fear of the Lord.

In fact, you know, the New Testament, Paul says that it's through the fear of

the Lord that men actually depart from iniquity.

That's lawlessness, literally, sin, through the fear of the Lord.

We need a healthy fear of the Lord in our churches.

And amongst those who are saying, hey, I belong to him. He's my daddy, right?

A healthy fear of God where we reverence him in awe and where it's like,

you know what? This is my master. This is my king.

This is my Abba Father.

I want to serve him out of a heart of love and devotion, but I have such great

reverence for him. I don't take his commands lightly.

I don't just hear and say, yes, I'm serving him and then go live like I want.

And then we also see boldness and witness in verses 8 and 9.

Boldness and witness, because the time is drawing short, y'all.

If we believe that Jesus is coming in an hour that we do not expect him and

we need to be ready, right?

That should give us a sense of urgency to fulfill the Great Commission,

to go out into the highways and byways, starting here in Babinet,

Alabama, and to share the good news, amen?

That's a sense of urgency and we have boldness and witness because we believe it.

We don't just say it with a lip, we believe it, we live it.

And then radical generosity in verse 33, we see that radical generosity where,

hey, look, we are willing to do anything to see that God's agenda gets accomplished, right?

That includes giving to the work of God, giving to the work of other ministries

financially, but also giving of our time, our energy, our talents.

All of that is included in that.

And then care for fellow believers in verse 42 and 43 that we see here.

We care for those around us. We see needs. We want to help meet them,

whatever they are. We want to be there for each other.

And then basically in verse 47, just general obedience to the commands of the Lord.

Just knowing we have a heavenly father and a

lord and savior and master and king who's coming

back in an hour we don't know and we obey

him out of a heart of love just generally right it's not

a thing that we have to work towards in the sense of it's a burden when you

love somebody it makes it easier doesn't it not saying it's easy all the way

at all jesus said you're gonna have trials you have temptations you're gonna

have trouble in this world but be of good cheer because i've overcome the world, right?

It's not all easy, but the love that motivates us should come from these things

and how God has dealt with us.

So Jesus's teaching here is meant to actually elicit a response like that of Jonathan Edwards.

Remember hearing about old Jonathan Edwards? He actually, when he's a young

man, he actually made this resolution.

And I think this is a great one for us to take away this morning.

As we see on this last slide, listen to what he said.

He said, resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if I expected

it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trumpet.

Resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if I expected it

would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trumpet.

Wow, what a challenge to us.

Are we living lives that are ready or not? Are we ready?

He's coming back when we don't expect it. Are we living ready lives?

You know, if you stop and think about it today, as we come to a close,

what do your present actions suggest you truly believe about the future and

the extent, y'all, to which Jesus' return actually affects those beliefs?

Faithful servants here, again, can anticipate their master's pleasure, his gracious reward.

He'll even serve them and set him at his table.

But what does that motivate you or me to do in our master's service today at

Eastwood Baptist Church?

In other words, is there a temptation to disobedience that maybe you regularly give into,

which you could resist by saying to yourself and relying on the power of the

Spirit, be dressed, ready for service, as it says in this passage.

Gird up your loins. Be ready for service. Be ready.

Be a faithful servant. That's the challenge today.