Redefining Kingdom Readiness

Introduction

We just celebrated New Years a few weeks ago, and New Years was the 24 year anniversary of the 1999 New Years Eve, which many of you may remember as a particularly frenzied day. In the January 1999 cover of Time Magazine it asked the question “The End of the World?!?! In a years time people did many things preparing for the potential fallout of computer systems collapsing on this date. People took survival classes, they stored up on goods, withdrew large sums of money, stocked up fire-arms, and purchased backup-generators. Every US federal agency had a task force to prepare contingency in case of collapse. Insurance companies sold insurance policies covering business. The estimated total cost in the United State in preparing for Y2K in todays dollars would come out to $510 billions dollars, worldwide another $523 billion was spent.

As we now know, very little actually came from the hysteria. There wasn’t any grand Wall Street collapse or anything like that. But what it shows us is just how far we will go when we believe that serious catastrophe is on the way. Now just like a zombie apocalypse, most of us give very little effort into actually preparing for it because we don’t believe the threat exists, we don’t take it seriously.

What Brad showed us last week is that we should take seriously that Jesus will return. And as Christians, we should. Because we believe that Jesus died, rose from the dead, and ascended to be at the right hand of the Father. We know that Jesus told us that He will come back again. But what we all saw last week is that there isn’t a date that we can count on for Christ’s return, in fact not a single one of know the day or the area, so in that case, how can we prepare for His return without knowing when exactly He is returning? We can get pretty frustrated in waiting.

But I think God’s Word gives us some direction, in fact I think Paul gives us clear instruction in Ephesians 5:15–17

“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

With that in mind, our main point is that...

We are to be ready for Christ’s return by faithfully carrying out the role entrusted to us (big or small) by God.

In fact, even in the 1st verse, we see this main point drawn out by Jesus. “Who then is a faithful and wise servant?” with the answer Jesus gives in v. 46, “the one whom the master finds doing his job when he comes”.

-What this describes for us is not the smartest, the most financially well-off, the person with the greatest position. But rather just the one doing the job that God has appointed for them.

I had a basketball coach in high school, and he would always tells us “do your job”, and what he meant by that was “do what you are supposed to do and the hardest you can do it and don’t be worried about what other people are supposed to do”. On a team it is easy to say “but they didn’t do their part” or “they weren’t where they were supposed to be” but to “do your job” means that God has given us things we oversee, we are to be faithful to what God has given us. What happens in the world, what happens in our country, what other people do. They are important things. But we aren’t going to stand before Jesus one day and have to give account of other people’s faith, we will have to give account of our own faith.

And as we look at this main point we will see 5 important truths across 3 parables that Jesus will tell us about being ready for His return by faithfully carrying out the role given to us, even when Jesus takes more time than we would like. That in each of the parables what will be clear is that the “Master” and the “groom” will be delayed longer than expected with His arrival and Jesus will show us the different responses to this delay, both good and bad.

So let’s read the first parable.

Parable of the wicked servant

In this parable Jesus describes for us two servants. One that we find doing his job, and whom the master” will put him in charge of all of His possessions.

But then we see another path, the one of the wicked servant who does the opposite of the Master’s commands. Specifically, to be in charge of the household and feed the other people in the house “at the proper time.” He even goes to being abusive to his fellow servants, those who are of the same standing as himself. What he hangs his hat on is that he won’t give account for his actions because it has taken so long for the master to return. And in the master’s delay he has taken for himself the role of the master with the other servants being considered “less-than” himself. He has mistaken the authority given to him by his master as meaning he is more valuable than his fellow servant.

This brings us to our first point

Being ready means we do not exploit for our own gain the delay of Jesus' return.

Last week, was the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. day. A day that reminds us that at one point in our countries history there were many who called themselves servants of God who exploited their fellow image-bearers and treated them as animals instead of humans. That treated humans in cruel and inhumane ways. The only way we can do this is because we decide in our hearts in some way that we won’t give an account of our actions. In doing so, many of them found themselves in the same place as this servant...”assigned a place with the hypocrites.”

Why a place with the hypocrites? Because what we have seen the hypocrites is that they have a form of godliness but denies its power. They are people who haven’t followed God, but have decided rather to create their own human religion and have not really come to terms with what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Or we think that we can hide our sins from God behind a public image. Often, because we aren’t actively exploiting other people, we can read this and think “well, I’ve never done this.” But just like Brad last week, I can’t get out of this message without giving you a teaser for next week. Where those whom Jesus will say “depart from me, I never knew you” will ask Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’ “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” So we have to ask ourselves. Who is calling out for help that we aren’t listening to? Who has God given us the resources to help that we are using for our own gain? Children without a home? Those who are disabled who ask us for help? Our African-American brothers and sisters who are affected by discrimination?

Because it isn’t just about the servants abuse of the slaves, it is about us acting with a borrowed authority as if it is our own. Hoping our good in life can make up for how we have treated other people when we ignoring the needs of those God has called us to meet.

The other truth this parable reveals to us is that.

Being ready means we fulfill our tasks with self-control, otherwise we may find we are unprepared for the Lord's return

We also see it isn’t just about the man’s exploitation of others, but that he has ignored the tasks given to Him. He has been called to take care of the master’s household, but instead he is out among the wicked. He is supposed to share the resources and give food at the proper time, but instead he indulges himself.

What this man does is throw out self-control. As Paul said in Ephesians 5 we are to “make the most of the time, for the days are evil”. This man has chosen not to make the most of his time, but instead he has abused his time for his own pleasure.

And one thing about self-control is that it can be very hard to gain it back once you have lost it. Once you have grown to love the things of the world, once you have a taste of sinful pleasure, it is hard to put it back in the box. There are many people who have believed “they can stop whenever they want”

But it isn’t just about addiction, it is how our earthly comforts can start go gain precedence over godliness. We start to tithe a little less and spend it more on ourselves, we start off the year by serving our community every week, but then we want to take that trip and we just get tired the next morning, and we find ourselves using all of our time for our own interests. There is a reason they are called spiritual disciplines, because discipline is HARD. Every year many of us start with a lot of spiritual goals like reading our bible in a year, and then we hit Leviticus and we never end up getting to Deuteronomy.

This brings us to our next parable.

Parable of the Ten Virgins

In it Jesus shows us these 10 virgins. Now, the reason this is significant is because of their relationship to the bride, these would be like her “bridesmaids” if you will. And their job during this wedding ceremony would be to light the way in the darkness for the groom to go to the bride’s house and bring them to the banquet.

But when we think of weddings now we think of this strict time-line, everything is planned out to the minute. But this wouldn’t be the case during this time. So they would have known they may have to wait till later in the night in order for their part of their ceremony to begin.

So what they would be carrying is a torch, which would likely have been a rag connected to a stick that would need to be dipped in oil in order to light. This certainly would not last all night. And we see that 5 are prepared while 5 forgot to bring extra oil for the night.

Now when it says that the 5 who had brought extra wouldn’t share, we might say “how come they wouldn’t share? Isn’t that rude of them!” But they would known that if they were to share then they wouldn’t have enough to do the procession themselves. If they shared, no one would have a lit torch!

So instead the 5 unprepared have to go in the middle of the night in order to find oil for their own torches. But by the time they arrive everyone is already at the banquet, the role they were supposed to play has already been fulfilled and they missed it.

Again, we see the groom deny them access to the banquet, and at first glance that seems harsh. But let’s consider your own wedding. And let’s say you had a bridesmaid that was supposed to come down the aisle with you, they had a role to play in the wedding, maybe you even put them in charge of bringing the flowers for the bridesmaids and groomsmen. And then when it comes time to handle their duties they are no where to be found, and then after the ceremony they show up to the banquet and ask if they can join in. I’m sure many of you would say “Where were you this whole time? You want to ignore your role and then come join in on the party?!” You may even say something like “who do you think you are?” which is very similar to the grooms response “I don’t know you”. It is a dramatic quote rather than a literal statement of fact.

Now, as we read this we may again think “what is the big deal, they just forgot oil, they just forgot to plan ahead. But their actions are more than that, it is pure carelessness.

That brings us to the point...

Being ready means we are prepared for the Lord's delay

I remember as a young father sometimes I was careless in my preparation. Because sometimes I would have my child, or children, and I would want to enjoy some time with them so we would go to the park, or to the beach, or to get lunch. And if my wife wasn’t readily available as I was going out the door I would get there and my preparation would be very poor. I would forget a diaper bag, I wouldn’t bring a change of clothes, I wouldn’t bring water, or snacks for the car. And so if I had any emergencies once I got there I would think “what am I going to do?!” So then I’d call my wife and she would say “did you check the backups that I left in the van?” and I would say “I didn’t know we had backups in the van.”

See, but that isn’t just a forgetfulness in planning ahead, that is carelessness to the responsibilities given to me as a Father. Now…I am still not nearly as prepared as my wife. But I do know how to be prepared in case of an emergency.

In the same way these women were not just forgetful, they were considering themselves rather than those they were there to celebrate, the bride and groom.

What we see is that this preparation is not something we can pass blame on to another, we will all be called give account for our own preparedness, it isn’t something that another can give to us, nor that we can give to others. We are responsible for our own spiritual readiness.

We also see from this parable that...

Being ready means we don't let the flame of faithfulness burn out

If you notice, all of them were prepared at the beginning. But what they didn’t prepare for was the delay of the groom. And in not preparing for the delay they went from faithful to unfaithful.

But we must not use the delay of the Lord as an excuse for unpreparedness.

Early obedience does not allow for later neglect. You may have earlier in life been very faithful, but we can’t let the flame burn out just because we have already “paid our dues”. That isn’t faithfulness. Faithfulness is obedience till the end of our lives.

This doesn’t mean we have to live in constant fear, notice the other 5 are able to rest, they go to sleep while they wait for the groom. Why? Because they lived ready for the moment. They were prepared for the return, not having to put all the pieces together last minute and hoping we can reverse our unfaithfulness up to that point. It is about constant faithfulness.

This brings us to our next parable.

Parable of the Talents

In it we see a master who who going on a journey, and before he does he calls 3 of his servants. To each he gives a different amount of talents (we don’t know exactly how much a talent was but it would have been many years salary for a normal work, a substantial amount to invest with) and it tells us he gave based off “their ability”. Later on it will tell us that when he comes back he has each of them “give an account” which assumed that they were expected to do something with what their master had given them.

Now we see for the both the man given 5 talents and the one given 2 that “at once” they work to prepare their investments for their master. They don’t delay in the work. And both double the investment.

-When the master comes back he tells both men “well done” and calls them a “good and faithful servant” that could be entrusted with more. Then at the end tells them they will “share in their master’s joy. We may think of a divine banquet that the servant gets to enjoy with his master. That both men receive the same encouragement from the master shows it was not about how much they able to make, but just that they were faithful with what they were given.

Then we see the third man, and instead of investing what was given to him, instead he decides to keep it safe by burying it. It seemed safe, he wouldn’t lose anything, but neither would he gain anything.

-When the master comes to this servant he gives plenty of excuses. HE calls the master “harsh”, he describes him as cruel and merciless in his business dealings, and uses these as an excuse for his own failure.

-But the master refutes these excuses, because if this was really true of him, then the servant would have known that he expected a return on his investment! And even if he was scared of losing it, why not put it in a bank to gain interest?

Instead, the reason that the servant did not invest was because he allowed fear to paralyze him into inaction. That in “playing it safe” and in hoping to do nothing wrong, he did nothing at all.

-The servant in some sense was worried that he did not have the same business sense as the other two servant,s but the master was not expecting him to return the same investment as the other two. He just expected a faithful steward of the gift given to him.

-He decided to blame the Master rather than to recognize blame fell on Him alone.

Being ready means we steward the resources given to us by the Lord

It takes courage to make spiritual commitments

If we make no commitments in order to “not to anything wrong” is really no religion at all.

One commentator said “to make no commitments on religious matters is really to make a damning commitment by default”.

Sometimes we can be so overwhelmed by what God desired for us to do that we end up not contributing at all, we make excuses for why our talents just aren’t good enough, that what we have to give really isn’t all that much.

-This ignores that God has told us He has given us exactly what we need!

-And even IF we were to consider God “harsh”, which He has not. Wouldn’t that just be more reason to serve Him?!

We have talked about connecting and contribution. Often we say "I don't know who to connect with, I don't know where to serve" and because of our indecisiveness we do nothing at all! But we must try something! If it doesn't work, use your talents somewhere else!

-But to take a gift that God has given us and to not do anything at all is to forfeit that gift, and even more, eternal punishment. Because as we notice, this man receives the same punishment as the wicked servant earlier.

We may also, like the servant say “well why do others get more gifts than me? Why are others more spiritual blessed than I am? But in doing so we ignore God’s grace on our lives. God has already revealed His goodness clearly to us, He has provided us an opportunity, God will not be duped by our refusal to use what He has given us.

We can also blame the world around us. “There is just so much trouble in the world, it is so difficult to do God’s Word! But that is for us to attempt to do this work in our own power rather than in Gods. It isn’t the circumstances around us that are the problem, but rather who our faith is in.

But I think there is a 2nd problem we face.

It is far easier to spiritually gamble than to spiritually invest

Notice that these men who used the fathers resources wisely, they don’t take the easy route, but they rely on consistent, wise use of the masters money.

God desires consistent, lifelong faithfulness.

This message isn’t about missing one day of doing the right thing, it isn’t about being fearful cause you made a wrong choice. But just like the women who fell asleep but were still prepared for the return of the groom. What Jesus emphasizes in this message is asking if we have been faithful with Jesus has entrusted to us throughout our lives.

-It is challenging because we are being asked an important question. Where have our investments been in life? Have we been storing up treasures in heaven? Or on earth?

In our waiting, find encouragement in Christ and His Church

1 Thessalonians 5:8–11 “But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.”

I want you to remember this…our encouragement in Jesus is not that if we have not always been faithful that it is too late for us. But to get ready now because we obtain salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. It is never too late to become ready!