Are You Ready?

Okay, alright.

Today's scripture reading today comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletin.

Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.

Be like men who are waiting for their masters when he returns from the wedding feast,

so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

Blessed are those slaves whom their master will find on the alert when he comes.

Truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve,

and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.

Whether he comes in the second watch, or even the third, and finds them so,

blessed are those slaves.

But, be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming,

he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

You too, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.

Peter said,

Lord, are you addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?

And the Lord said,

Who then is the faithful and sensible steward,

whom his master will put in charge of his servants,

to give them their rations at the proper time?

Blessed is the slave from whom his master finds so doing when he comes.

Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But if that slave says in his heart,

My master will be a long time in coming,

and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women,

and to eat and drink and get drunk,

the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him,

and at an hour he does not know,

and will cut him in pieces,

and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

And that slave, who knew his master's will,

and did not get ready,

or act in accord with his will,

will receive many lashes.

But the few who did not know it,

and committed deeds worthy of a flogging,

will receive but few.

From everyone who has been given much,

much will be required.

And to whom they entrusted much,

of him they will ask all the more.

This is the reading of God's Word.

Wow, it has been at least five weeks

since I've been able to get up here and say,

how you guys doing?

How you guys doing?

Come on, five weeks.

I was expecting something much greater than that.

That was just not good enough.

How you guys doing?

Great, that's good, that's good.

We talk a lot.

About being on a journey here.

This summer I went on a journey.

I got back last Saturday

and ended up with strep throat.

A great gift from my kiddos

who are back home

and they are trying to heal up

and Christina will bring them back this Saturday.

So I'm praying for her and her jet lag state

and bringing them back.

The journey this summer was crazy.

We left here, we went to London,

we went to Oxford,

we took a group of people from here to Oxford,

we studied,

we went back to London,

we flew to Bologna,

we got in a car,

we traveled with some friends for their birthday

and the best part was

it was just a gift to us

and so we didn't have to pay for a lot of it.

That was amazing, right?

That's the best kind of journeys, right?

That it's a free journey.

You know, it's a grace journey.

We went to Bologna

and we went to a little town

where there was nothing happening there,

not even a telephone

and people like Dave Sutherland

were very frustrated

as they held their Blackberries up

and walked around

trying to find a signal

and you could not find a signal for 25 miles

and they just realized,

or they thought,

that a place like this

could not exist in the world anywhere.

So we found a new place like that

and then we drove to Rome

and spent a couple days there

and then we got in this airplane

that was held together by bandages,

I think,

how most European airlines are

and we prayed a lot.

You know, it's like one of those airlines,

you read the article

where the guy got on

and he looks out at the wing

and the wing is torn up

but there's a little note

and it says,

don't worry, we know about this.

So it's like one of those airlines.

You get in and you go,

I don't know if this is going to work

but people know about this

and then we fly to Atlanta

and we get into Atlanta

and we drive up to North Carolina

to see my dad

and we have this experience

in North Carolina

where my dad wants to do something

on his bucket list

and so he takes all the grandkids

to whitewater rafting

which he thinks is going to be very peaceful

because it's called Zen tubing.

Ooh, Zen.

Don't ever go Zen tubing

unless you want an unpeaceful time

and about halfway down the journey

as Kip was running through all the trees

and just being miserable,

he yells out,

this is the worst day of my life!

And I'm sitting there listening to him

and I'm like,

I wish I could say that.

But I'm an adult.

I can't say things like that.

I just have to say,

don't worry, it's going to get better.

And we see my dad

and then we fly to Dallas

and we see Christina's dad

and then I fly back on Thursday

and I get back here on Saturday

going through London and Hong Kong

and if you want to go to the States,

never go through London

because it's just, it's not good.

And I come back in

and well, London's okay

and the weather's terrible.

And I have this massive sore throat

and the staff wouldn't let me talk last Sunday

because they realized that I was doped up

just as I'm doped up now

and they were worried about

what I was going to ramble on

just as I'm rambling on now.

But I realized in the journey

that there are certain questions

that get asked a lot.

When you have four kids,

they ask questions like,

when are we going to eat next?

And how long till the next place?

And in this time,

I realized how bad of a husband

and a dad I was.

I really struggle as a dad,

especially answering questions

because the one that gets me

is when they ask the same question

over and over and over

and over and over again,

like in a span of like two nanoseconds, right?

And it's almost as if

they don't hear your response,

but they keep asking that question

and my kids kept asking that question

and the question was always,

when is this going to end?

When is this going to end?

When is this going to end?

Which I started asking myself also,

when is this going to end?

And as I traveled,

I listened and talked to my kids

and friends on this journey

and I realized

kind of what I shared last week,

that people talk about

a lot of different things

depends on what country they're in.

But for the most part,

the questions we ask on the journey

are pretty much the same.

As a pastor,

I get asked the questions

and not necessarily in order,

but the questions normally are this,

should I date him or her?

They're really cute.

What do you think?

The question is,

should I tithe?

Does God really need my money?

And should I tithe on my net

or my gross?

The question is,

is this the end times?

Is this what was foretold in Scripture?

Is Jesus going to come back soon?

Is Obama the Antichrist?

And I'm so confused,

I thought Bill Clinton was Antichrist.

Antichrist.

And before that,

people were assuring me

that Ronald Reagan was the Antichrist

because his whole name

has six letters,

six middle letters,

six middle,

six, six, six.

And so I just thought

Ronald Reagan was the Antichrist.

But in the midst

of the conversations with people,

people are asking these questions

because they look at the world around them,

they look at their world,

and they see things that aren't good.

They see darkness,

they see confusion,

they see lack of clarity.

They not only see the darkness,

but they feel the darkness.

Do you feel the darkness?

darkness?

When you look around

and you see what's going on

in the world,

when you listen to stories

about what's going on

in movie theaters,

when you listen to stories

about people being abandoned

or maybe you're being abandoned,

or even when you look at your heart,

and you wonder why you think

certain thoughts,

is there darkness there?

It's interesting in the end times

as I was talking to people,

there's usually two camps,

at least in the people I run into.

There's the one camp

that they're spending all their time

thinking and wanting to know

when.

When is this going to happen?

When is Jesus coming back again?

I need to know when.

I actually had someone present to me

about three weeks ago

this whole chart,

and it was amazing.

They had this three-by,

I mean,

it was like a bulletin board,

and they basically took history

and peoples and names,

and in this whole history,

they went up to the point of

this is when the world

is going to end,

and this is how it's going to happen,

and this is who the Antichrist is.

And I just looked at that

and I go,

wow,

that's an amazing piece of energy

towards that.

I don't know,

I'm pretty sure

that that's not correct,

but whoever put that together,

that's amazing.

And so you have one side of people

who are like that.

They're struggling with

trying to figure out

when is this going to happen?

When is the end times?

When should I sell my Apple shares

and enjoy whatever I can

until that end time comes?

And then what I saw,

you should,

no one laughed,

but that is a joke.

Never sell your Apple shares,

they're good forever.

Never.

And then you have some people

who kind of basically say,

I don't really care.

In fact,

I hope that there's never

the end time

because I'm having

too much fun here

in life,

it's just too good.

Jesus is on a journey.

He's on a journey to Jerusalem,

and when you hear that,

you always think

the end,

his crucifixion.

And in this journey

in chapter 12,

he's talking to his disciples

and he's giving them a lesson

and we're told in the scripture

in Luke 12

that there are over 10,000 people

following Jesus.

It's like a rock concert.

And they're all gathered towards him

because they know

that he's going to Jerusalem

and they know that something big

is going to happen.

And in Luke 12,

he pulls his disciples aside

and he talks to them

about things they need

to be careful of,

things they need to worry about,

things they need

to keep their eyes out for.

He talks to them

about hypocrisy.

He talks to them

about wearing masks

and being different

in one place or another

and not allowing people

to see your true heart

or who you are.

To depend on

what your appearance is

as opposed to

depending on truth.

He talks to them

about coveting

and how that's,

Paul says,

that that's his greatest

downfall,

that coveting

and wanting things

that other people have,

when you see what they have,

you want it

and so you desire it

and you make it an idol,

you make it a God

and Jesus realizes

that us,

his children,

are going to have

a problem with that

and so he talks about that

over and over

and over again

because we're walking

in the darkness

and in the darkness

sometimes we cling

for things

and they look really good

but when we hold them

up to our face

because our lamp

has blown out,

we can't see them

clearly

and so that we cling

to those things

and eventually we realize

that those things,

those idols,

cannot sustain

the weight of our soul.

They're empty,

they're hollow.

Jesus goes on

in his journey

and he talks to them

about fear

and worry

and in verses 22

and 34

he tells them

not to worry

and to be careful

because he's in control

and there's nothing

you need to fear

because God

is in control

and everything

is in his hands.

Your job,

your cancer,

your family,

your children,

as you walk

with the Lord

he is big enough

to hold all those things

and the scripture says

he holds all of those things

tightly

and he takes care of them

and Jesus

reminds his disciples

and he reminds you

and me

that we don't

need to be fearful

of those things

and then we get

to this amazing

chapter

in verses 35

through 48

and Jesus begins

to talk about

the end time.

It's the question

that everybody

is talking about

because they know

they're going to Jerusalem,

they know something

that massive

is going to happen

and they want to know

when his kingdom

is going to come again.

This is the first

major teaching

of Christ

on this.

Now there are

280 chapters

in the New Testament

but 318 times

they talk about

Jesus' second coming.

So that means

one out of every

25 verses

in your New Testament

talk about

Christ's return.

Talk about him

coming to earth.

Talk about him

penetrating the darkness

and grabbing you

and I

as his children

and taking us home.

And so it's really important.

And he wants his disciples

to be aware of that

and not to lose focus

because he realizes

that as you and I

and they

go on this journey

we're going to be tempted

to lose focus.

He realizes

that as we go

on this journey

we're entering

into these dark areas

these dark times.

we have darkness

sometimes in ourselves

and in the darkness

we lose focus

of God.

And he writes

this scripture

to his disciples

and you and I

and over and over

and over again

and he says

be careful.

You're going to walk

in darkness

be careful.

There's distractions

be careful.

There are going to be

things that look

so good to you

in the darkness

but when you hold

them up to the light

they're not real.

Be careful.

You're going to walk

through life

and you're going to hear

these voices

talk about you.

Man you really screwed up.

I cannot believe

you did that.

How can you be

a child of God

and make those mistakes?

Man you might as well

just give it up.

It's not worth it.

You've tried everything

you can

but you're not getting anywhere.

Your boss is a jerk.

You're never going to succeed.

You're doing all

the righteous things

but you might as well

just give up

because it's not worth it.

It's too hard.

It's too difficult.

Give up.

And Jesus says

be careful of those voices

because those voices

that speak to you

in the darkness

are not real.

They're not truthful.

They're not of me.

Be careful.

And so he goes

in this passage

and he lays out

a story

of a party

and a master

and slaves

and he gives

two to three parables

of what happens

as they go

on their journey

and as they serve

the master

and what happens

in the middle

of that journey

and he tries

to teach us

what it means.

And when I look

at this passage

there are two things

that stick out to me.

The first thing

is how.

How am I supposed

to act?

What am I supposed

to do?

How am I supposed

to live in this

in-between time

that we keep talking about?

How am I supposed

to live in the darkness

when I can't see clearly

when my light

has gone out?

How am I supposed

to do that?

And why?

Why am I supposed

to do that?

I mean what's really

the big deal?

Because God is

he's good.

He's gracious.

He's like Santa Claus.

Everything's always

going to be turned around.

In the end

everybody wins

with God, right?

And so Jesus

lays out this argument

in Luke.

How and why?

And I want to really

look at it

and as I've been

on cough syrup

and all these things

I've got to this point

where I'm trying

to figure out

how do I do this?

What does this look like?

Because we've talked

about this over again.

So I want to talk

about the ending first.

The why.

Now you might remind me

later and say

you should have started

with the how

but I want to talk

about the why

and the why

is found in verses

45 through 49

verses 37

and I'm just going

to read them

really quickly

and we're going

to talk about them.

Why do we care?

Why do we worry?

Why should we do

these things?

Well let me just read it.

Be dressed in readiness

and keep your lamps lit.

Be like a man

who are waiting

for their master

when he returns

from the wedding feast

so they may immediately

open the door

to him

and when he comes

and knocks.

Blessed are those slaves

when the master

finds alert

when he comes.

Truly I say to you

that he will gird himself.

The master will gird himself

as a slave

have the slaves

recline at the table

and he'll come up

and wait on them.

Whoever he comes

in the second watch

or the third watch

and he finds them

though blessed

are these slaves.

But be sure of this.

If the head of the house

had known what hour

the thief was coming

he would not have allowed

the house to be broken in.

You too be ready

for the son of man

is coming at an hour

that you do not expect.

Verse 45

But if the slave says

in his heart

his inner self

in Greek

my master

will be a long time

in coming

and he begins

to beat the slaves

both men

and women

and to eat

and to drink

and to get drunk.

When you look at the why

there's actually

two whys.

There's a negative why

and there's a positive why.

And what this passage

says to you and I

as children of God

and I've shared it before

that God is a venture capitalist

and he's given

a lot of money

and resources

and talents

and giftings

in relationships

to you.

And one day

the venture capitalist

is going to come back

and he's going to look

at the return

on your life.

And this passage

says

that there either

is going to be

a positive response

to that return

or a negative response

to that return.

The negative response

says

the slave says

in his heart

my master

will be a long time

in coming

and he begins

to eat

beat the slaves

both men and women

and to eat

and drink

and get drunk.

The master

of that slave

will come

on a day

when he does not

expect him.

It's basically

saying in Greek

that the slave

took the resources

that the master

gave him

and the slave

used the resources

on himself.

the master

gave him

all these talents

this time

this money

all these things

that he could have

done amazing things

in God's kingdom.

And the slave goes

yeah

I know that this

isn't really mine

but

by the time

the master

comes back

I'm going to be

long dead.

Or by the time

the master

comes back

he's going to

forget about

all these things.

Or you know

the master

might not

ever

come back.

So maybe

I should just

do what

I want

with

my stuff

and take

care of

myself.

So the slave

begins to get

drunk

and he beats

the men

and women

in Greek

he's basically

saying he's

misusing resources.

The master

of that slave

comes on a day

when he does not

expect him

in an hour

he does not

know

and he will

cut him

in pieces.

Very very

strong language.

I mean

some of the

strongest languages

you could say

it basically

means he

hews him

in two.

Everyone

that heard

this would

have gone

back to

Abraham's

covenant

with God

and in

that covenant

God placed

these animals

and separated

them in two

pieces

and Abraham

walked through

those pieces

and God

said whoever

breaks this

covenant

this is what

will happen

to them.

And so the

minute the

listeners heard

Jesus speaking

his disciples

they would have

known wow

this is not

good.

So the

master comes

and he

separates the

slave into

two places

and he puts

them into the

place of the

unbelievers.

And that

slave who knew

his master's

will and did

not get ready

or act in

accord with

his will

he will

receive

many

lashes.

He goes

on and he

says if

the slave

or the

owner of

the house

knew what

time the

thief were

going to

break in

he would

not have

allowed it

to happen.

The negative

is that we

all have a

responsibility

as God's

children.

We've all

been giving

resources.

We've all

been giving

time and

talent.

And one

day the

master is

going to

return again.

Do you

believe that?

If I

were to

ask you

or say

Jesus

could come

this week

or Jesus

could come

today

what would

you think?

How would

you react?

Let's say

you go home

tonight and

you're watching

TV and all

of a sudden

there's a

knock at

your door.

And your

wife or

your friends

or your

kid opens

the door

and they

come back

and you

go who

was it?

And he

goes Jesus.

What?

Yeah he

wants to

come into

the house.

What would

you do?

I mean

how would

you react

if God

wants to

come into

your house

and to

visit with

you?

Would

there be

things you

would say

okay wait

wait

wait

I got

this cleaned

up for a

minute.

Wait one

second.

There's

some areas

here I

need to

clean up

really quickly

before this

happens because

I don't

want him to

see these

things.

Or would

you say

that's

great.

Come on

in.

Jesus

tells his

disciples he

tells us

that in

the end

the master

returns

and each

one of us

are held

accountable

for what

we have.

The negative

the hard

one the

one you

won't want

to talk

about as a

pastor because

you want

people walking

away going

oh man.

But we

need to

talk about

that.

Then there's

a positive

why.

And it's

found at the

very beginning.

He says

be dressed in

readiness and

keep your

lamps lit.

Be like the

men who are

waiting for

their master

when he

returns to

the wedding

feast so

that he

may immediately

open the

door to

him when

he comes

and knocks.

Blessed.

It means

this incredible

feeling and

position of

honor and

blessing put

upon them.

It doesn't

just mean it

happens right

when the

master comes

home but it

means they

are blessed.

They have

been watching.

They have

been waiting.

They know

that he

could come

home anytime

and they

have been

there.

Blessed are

those slaves

whom the

master will

find on the

alert when he

comes.

Truly I say

to you that he

will gird

himself to

serve them and

have them

recline at the

table and

will come home

and wait on

them.

whether he

comes in

the second

hour or

the third

and finds

him so

blessed are

those slaves.

The story

is this.

There's this

banquet and

the master

has gone off

to this

banquet and

Jewish banquets

last anywhere

from one day

to one week.

And so the

slaves know

they have no

idea when the

master is going

to come.

They have no

idea.

I mean he

could come in

one day or

he could come

a week later.

And the

passage says

the faithful

slaves, the

faithful servants

are always

ready.

They're always

watching.

They're always

thinking and

doing.

And then one

day, and this

is a very

interesting passage

because if you

read this to a

Jewish person

today, they

would have a

lot of questions

about this.

One of these

is basically

the word

waiting doesn't

really mean

waiting.

It means

expecting.

I mean waiting

means I'm just

going to wait.

Okay, when is

this going to

happen?

It's like you're

waiting for your

wife to finish

shopping or you're

waiting for your

husband to turn

off the TV or

find the remote.

It's like I just

don't know if this

is ever going to

happen.

Maybe it will

happen, maybe it

won't happen.

But expecting is

like being in the

movie theater and

you see the

beginning of the

movie start.

you're really

excited about this

movie and you

know that what's

going to happen is

going to be

amazing.

And he's saying

that the faithful

slaves, the faithful

servants are those

who are expecting

the master to

return.

Because they know

that when he

returns something

amazing is going

to happen.

And something

amazing happens

because when Jesus'

followers heard this

they couldn't

understand it.

because it says

the party is

happening, they're

in the house

waiting, and the

master slips out of

the party and he

goes to his home.

And it's very

unusual because

usually you never

knock.

If you knock on a

door it means you're

a stranger.

Usually the master

would just speak and

the door would open.

But here he knocks,

he's testing them, he's

trying to see are

they ready, what's

going on, are they

ready for me to

come?

He knocks, he sees

them all ready.

And the passage

says that when he

does that he brings

them into the

dining room, he

sits all the slaves

down, he takes his

clothes off, and he

girds himself with a

loincloth, and he

kneels down and he

serves every person

at that table.

Now when Jesus'

followers heard this

they couldn't

understand it.

Because a master

would never serve a

slave.

But what Jesus is

telling you and I

is that one day

when he comes back

and he sees how you

have faithfully

served, how you

were expecting him,

how you're ready, how

you're using your

gifts and your

talents, that one day

there's going to be

this huge banquet.

And Jesus is going to

sit you down.

And he's going to say,

you know, I knew that

you struggled with

this.

I knew that you

found it so hard to be

salt and white in the

office.

I knew that it was so

difficult for you to

walk with the ward as

your husband or your

wife didn't do it.

I knew that you

struggled with keeping

the accounting books

right and correct

because you had so much

pressure with you.

I knew that things

were always piled up

against you at your

school.

You were the only

teacher who professed

faith and you tried to

be salt and light and

you always faced a

struggle.

I knew that in your

bank that there were

very few people who

thought similar to you

and when you talked

about starting a prayer

meeting or reading the

word, people laughed at

you and pushed you

aside.

But you persevered.

You expected me.

You trusted me.

And now because of

that I want to pour out

my blessings upon you.

Do you know that each

one of us right now

we're living for

rewards?

Do you know that?

I mean sometimes we

feel uncomfortable

talking about it because

we feel like all pride

and arrogance but we

all are living towards

a reward and that

reward is salvation in

Jesus Christ.

But he says also as we

live out our life we're

living towards rewards

of faithfulness.

And one day the

master is going to come

back and he's going to

look at all the hard and

difficult things you've

done in your life.

All the things that

made no sense.

All the unreasonable

things.

All the things that you

were the only one and

you stood in there and

you honored him and you

walked with him and he's

going to go well done.

Well done my good and

faithful servant.

I'm so proud of you.

I'm so amazed by what

you've done here.

Here let me give you some

more things.

Let me give you some more

responsibilities.

Let me give you some more

blessings.

I knew that it was so hard

when you do that but here

is why you did it.

And here is what makes it

all worthwhile.

All worthwhile.

Do you believe that?

Sometimes it's hard.

Sometimes it's hard as we

walk in the darkness.

Sometimes it's hard when

people laugh at us.

Sometimes it's hard because

even in my own mind it makes

no sense whatsoever

sometimes.

But Jesus said that's why.

That's why I want you to be

faithful.

So we know the why.

The why is we're going to be

judged.

The question is Jesus is

going to come back and

either he's going to be your

savior or he's going to be

your judge.

There's only two options.

He's not a good dude.

He's not a fun guy.

When he comes back he's

either going to be your

savior or he's going to be

your judge.

And he's coming back.

Now again I struggle with

that.

Sometimes I just wonder how

long, how long.

Everybody's been talking

about that for 2,000 years.

His disciples were talking

about that for 2,000 years.

When is it?

I don't know.

But I know that it's sooner

than it was yesterday.

And some of us might not see

him return.

But some of us are going to

see him face to face when

we meet him when we die.

We all meet eternity.

We all meet Christ.

We all are going to be held

accountable for all the

resources he's given us and

what we do with those things.

On the Wednesday that I left,

I was leaving on Thursday,

one of my closest friends came

with his family to the lake

house.

My Christian's parents have a

house.

And we were hanging out there

and in the middle of our time

he got this phone call.

And his kids are four of them

playing with my four kids.

And he said, I got to leave.

I go, why?

Why?

Because my dad just died.

I said, did you expect that?

No.

Came out of a total surprise.

Had no idea.

His health was perfect.

He was in great shape.

He just, we just got the call.

He just passed away.

He died.

And so we packed them up in

their car and we sent them

back to Austin, Texas.

And I was praying for them.

The funeral was going to be on

the following Monday.

And I was trying to decide,

should I stay and do the

funeral?

Or what should I do?

My kids are getting, what do

I do with all these things?

Saturday, Paul calls me up.

He said, I mean, how do you,

I usually say, how you doing?

But how do you, you don't want

to say how you doing after

your dad's died, right?

I mean, you're like, you're

like, what's happening?

What's going on?

I mean, that's clearly what

I sounded like.

And he goes, I got really bad

news.

I'm like, okay, what's worse?

Your dad just died.

He goes, well, Friday night,

we took my mom out to eat.

Saturday morning, she woke up.

She died.

So on Wednesday, his dad dies.

And on Saturday, his mom dies.

And he calls the church up

really quickly and says,

can we change the funeral

from a single funeral

to a double funeral?

And I looked at Paul

and I cried with him.

And I said, you never know

when we're going to meet Christ.

The passage says that we'll

either meet him when he comes

again, or we'll meet him

when he opens our eyes.

The why.

Because he's coming.

And he wants us to be faithful.

The how.

How are we supposed to act?

Because if you hear a talk like this,

I'm a doer.

I want to know what do I do?

How do I do these things?

What should I do?

Tell me everything you need to do.

Give me a list here.

But scripture never talks about list.

It talks about relationships.

It talks about walking with God.

In verse 35,

I think it's the answer to the

how.

How are we to live?

Jesus talks to his disciples

and he said,

but be dressed in readiness

and keep your lamps lit.

This idea dressed

is a word that actually means girded.

So in Jewish time,

in Jesus' time,

they wore these long robes.

And often they would wear them

without a belt

because it was just so hot

and you wanted it to be

as loose as possible.

But when you had to do work,

when you had to do

some kind of movement,

when you had to run,

when you had to fight and battle,

you put a belt on.

And after you put your belt on,

you reach down

and you grab the end of your robes

and you pull them up

and you stuck them

in your belt.

And if you ever saw somebody

walking around

with the end of their robes

pulled up

and stuck in their belt,

you knew that they had been working

or running

or doing some kind

of strenuous exercise.

And Jesus says to his disciples,

as you walk on the journey,

as you prepare for eternity,

as you prepare for my return,

dress yourself

in readiness.

The Greek there actually means

to be girded,

to arm yourself for action,

to be continually active,

to be continually doing.

And so what he's telling us here

as we are on the journey,

that it's not a journey

about waiting.

That it's not a journey about,

well, I want to figure out

when he comes

so I can know the exact time

and so everything

will be in place.

Every time I think of that story,

I think of Joe Littlepage.

Joe Littlepage was a junior

above me in high school.

And when we started school,

Joe,

so he's one year above me,

he had this vision

that this year,

Jesus is going to come back.

And so for the whole year,

he didn't do any work.

Didn't do his homework.

I mean, he came to class.

The teacher says,

where's your homework, Joe?

He goes, well,

Jesus is going to come back.

It doesn't make any difference.

And at the end of the semester,

you know what happened to Joe?

He failed.

He failed school

because he didn't do any work

because he felt like

when Jesus comes,

all we do is we wait.

And when he waits,

then everything's going to be okay.

But the passage here says

just the opposite.

What Jesus is telling his disciples

is he says,

blessed is he who girds himself.

Blessed is he who works.

It's not passive.

Blessed is he who is ready.

Are you ready?

Are you ready today?

If Jesus were to come back,

are you ready for him to come back?

What would it look like?

For me, again,

I struggle with that sometimes.

Sometimes I go through life

and I just forget certain things.

I forget that Jesus is God

and I'm not.

I forget that he's in control

of all things.

Sometimes I forget

that I'm a servant.

I want to be a master.

I want to be in control.

I want people to listen to me.

I want people to obey me.

I want to do things.

Sometimes I forget

that he's actually

coming back again.

But the passage here,

Jesus says,

be dressed in readiness.

If you're a banker,

don't quit your banking.

Be the best banker you can.

Serve the Lord.

Walk with God.

Be righteous

and humble

and gentle

in your dressing yourself

in readiness.

If you're a teacher

and you know that Jesus

is coming next week,

don't quit teaching.

You're going to have

a reach and output

to people and students

that no one's ever

going to have a talk to.

Be faithful.

Be gentle.

Love your students well.

Care for them.

I don't know

what other professions are,

but what this passage

is saying is

don't stop

doing

what you're doing

because God has you

where you are

for a very specific

purpose and reason.

And what he wants you to do

is just be faithful.

Trust him.

Walk with him.

Allow him to work

in your life.

Does that make sense?

He's not saying

when I read this

and I go,

I gotta do this,

I gotta do this,

I gotta do this,

and if I don't do this,

God's not gonna be happy.

You know,

whatever you do,

if you're a child of God,

you're not gonna make God

any more or less happier

than he is right now

because this talk

isn't about salvation.

This passage is about

after you've become

a Christian,

this is what your life

looks like.

This is who you are.

This is what you do.

The Christian life

is actually a lot

about doing,

about being ready

and walking

in faithfulness.

And finally,

how or what

are we to look like?

He says these words

and I think these,

I've been thinking

about these a lot

these last couple weeks

and he says,

keep your lamps lit.

In Greek,

the word is

continually keep.

It actually means

to be faithful,

to keep a promise,

to act fittingly,

to keep your lamps lit.

Last night,

I took some codeine

before I went to bed

for my cold

and then when I woke up,

I looked into the darkness

and I saw figures

dancing around my room.

Just, you know,

it was just the drugs

on me, right?

And I realized

that sometimes

in the darkness,

our imagination

can get the best of us.

Sometimes when we walk

in darkness

and our lamp

isn't lit

with God's truth

and who we are,

we grab at things

that seem real

and true

in life,

but they're not.

Now the lamp,

I almost brought my lamp.

Someone gave me a lamp

from Jesus' day.

It's about that big.

And the lamps

weren't really meant

for you to walk

so you could see your feet

because it wasn't

that powerful really.

And you really knew

where you were going

in your house

and in your city

and in your village.

You knew where

all the steps were.

But the Hebrew historian

said the lamp

was held like this

so that as you walked,

people could see your face

and they would know

who's coming.

It's more of identification

so you could know

who was coming

and you could be aware

of what's going to happen.

And he's saying here

for you and I

that we need to keep

our lamps lit.

We need to understand

who we are.

We need to understand

what God's word says

about us.

And sometimes

if we start to believe

lies and falsehood,

we walk in darkness

and we stumble

and we grab onto things

that we think

are going to give us life,

but they end up

destroying our world.

And so Jesus warns

his disciples and us,

you know how to please

the Lord?

Just walk with him.

Trust him.

Be faithful.

Repent

because you're going to sin

if you're like me,

you're going to sin a lot.

So repent a lot.

Ask for forgiveness.

And remember

who you are

and who is in control

of your life.

And walk with that lamp

in your face,

the lamp of God's word

and his truth.

And don't allow

the darkness

to come in.

How do we walk?

We walk in faithfulness

and truth

by girding ourselves

up and being faithful

with the truth

that's been given us

as we walk ahead.

Why do we walk?

Because one day

Jesus,

our master,

our incredible Lord

is going to come back

and he's going to judge us

and reward us.

To me,

this passage is amazing

because I know

if you're like me,

sometimes you're doing things

and it's just,

you wonder,

why am I doing this?

And God says,

you're doing this

because one day

I'm going to come before you

and I'm going to bless you

and you're going to honor me

as you be faithful.

Now I realize

even as I share this,

there are some people

in here right now

who don't have a relationship

with Jesus Christ.

I don't know what master

you're serving.

I don't know what you expect

when the master

comes home.

My hope is,

my prayer is,

if you're here,

someone brought you here,

that you would start

to talk to them

and ask them about their faith

with Jesus Christ.

You would start to talk to them

and ask them about

what it means to walk with God.

You would start to talk to them

and engage with them

about what it means

to walk in faith

and why Jesus is the good master.

And my prayer for you

is that you would not

finish this week

without a realization

that there's a God

who loves you,

He cares for you,

He's given everything for you,

He's wooing you

and inviting you back

on the journey with Him,

and He's waiting for you

to open the door

in your life

and allow that to happen.

I realize even as I share this,

there's some of us here

right now

who said,

I've become a Christian.

I put my faith in Jesus Christ

when I was 10 years old,

I got baptized,

I did all these things,

I got it all going on.

But when we look at the passage,

we realize that there are

certain things that are true

of God's people

as we walk with Him.

The Bible says

that it's true

that as we walk with Christ

and we become more like Him

that we serve other people.

We think of others more

and we think of ourselves less.

The Bible says

that as we walk with Christ

that we walk in readiness.

We have an expectation

that Christ is going to return

and that when He returns

it's going to be amazing

and glorious.

The Bible says

as God's children

that we use

our money

in our resources

for His kingdom.

and not for our kingdom.

The Bible says

as we walk with God

and we become more like Christ

that we share

this journey

with other people

because we want them

to have the good master

that we have

and we don't want them

to end up getting beaten.

And the Scripture says

that as we walk with Christ

and we are His children

that we become more humble

that we walk in humility

that we walk in love

that we walk in gentleness

because we realize

that we're not the master

and that the master is good

and He's coming back for us.

And I realize

that there are some of us here

like this story

that if Christ were to come back today

and He were to examine our lives

we'd be in trouble.

My prayer is

that we would take this time

to come before Him

to ask for His forgiveness

and allow His Spirit

to change us

and to make us

into the people

that He wants us to be.

The amazing thing

about the Bible

is that it says

that wrath

and punishment

is not God's

primary response

to His children.

What the Bible says

is God's primary response