Great Expectations

Introduction

We are back in our series, Kingdom Stories. For the last few weeks, we’ve been hearing from Jesus, the Great Storyteller, as he regales us with tale after tale of a new and different society. It is so new, and so different, and so upside down and subversive in its social makeup, that Jesus cannot speak of this kingdom in stark terms. So he tries a new angle. He does not say “The Kingdom of God is exactly this.” Instead, he says, “The Kingdom of God is like this.” And he gives his hearers—today, that’s you—a chance to hear about the goodness and greatness of his reign and rule. Whether you have the ears to hear it, well, that’s up to you. I pray that you would listen today. Cut through the story to the deep truth of who Jesus truly is and what he means for your life. Because whether this is your first time walking through the doors of the church or you have been a member at Creekside for years, the noise of this world has a strange power over us, to dim the word of God and reduce its power. So my prayer is that Jesus’ story today would cut through the noise and drive to your heart.

PRAY

Serve to be Served

Today’s parable—that’s what the Bible calls these stories—needs a little bit of context. Jesus has been teaching and gaining in popularity, and now there is this crowd of thousands gathering around him, and they are literally trampling each other to get closer to the Storyteller. And as they do, Jesus leans over to his disciples and reminds them to remain true to what they believe. That won’t always be the popular thing, but it will be good. Someone starts shouting about an issue he has that he wants Jesus to deliberate on, and Jesus pivots with another parable about pursuing wealth. And before telling the story we hear today, he urges the crowd to seek the Kingdom of God above all else. And then, he shares this.

Luke 12:35–40 CSB

“Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Be ready for service and have your lamps lit.

The literal phrase here for be ready for service is “have your loins girded.” This makes zero sense to us and all the sense to those in the crowd. In those days, you didn’t where pants. You wore long robes that reached your feet. That’s fine if you are going about your life and taking it easy, but when its time to work, you don’t want to trip over your tunic. So you tie up your robes and tuck them into your belt. Now you are ready to get to work, cleaning and gathering and kneeling and running about. Having the lamps lit also means the house is alive with work, ready and waiting for the master’s return.

I won’t argue for urgency, because everyone is urgent. Our society is busy. I remember reading a while back that when new technology was being developed back in the 50s and 60s, the future was hailed as a time of rest and relaxation, where we could enable the same production in half the time, and so society could simply scale back and enjoy the extra time and energy. What actually happened was that production efficiency did increase, more than double. And yet rest has not increased; work has increased. Business produce more than ever, and yet they work harder than ever.

Okay, that’s business, but not everything is busy and urgent, right? I read an article yesterday that that there is a new surgeon general’s warning—at the same level of cigarettes and AIDS—about parental stress. The expectation that parents spend more time and money educating and enriching their children to equip them with every possible advantage has left families feeling “exhausted, burned out, and perpetually behind.”

Zamara: wants to graduate school early. Working with great urgency. Her expectation is that life after high school will give her the freedom to live her life entirely on her terms. To work as she wants to work. To go where she wants to go. To experience what she wants to experience. To leave behind her present state—parents and siblings, town, community—and know something new.

A lack of urgency is not the issue. The source of our urgency is.

What are you working for? To what end is your busyness? What is the area of your life where you find yourself constantly altering or adjusting your schedule, or your appearance, or your value system, or your finances, in the expectancy that reaching that goal or level will matter most?

The Son of Man is coming.

At this point, the ears of the crowd perk up. Because the Son of Man has huge significance in their community. A few hundred years ago, there was this prophet named Daniel who had a dream, and he wrote it down for everyone. In the dream, there’s this beast who ravaged the world and brought destruction and ruled with might and violence over humans. The Bible mentions this beast all the way back in Genesis 4; the beast is sin, but it came to represent human kingdoms that defined good and evil for themselves—kingdoms like Babylon, or Assyria, or Rome, or any modern day human power. But then in the dream, Daniel sees a throne room where God condemns the beast to destruction—one day, the beast will be overcome. And there’s more than one throne in the room. And then Daniel sees this figure—a human figure—rise on a cloud into God’s presence, and he sits on the divine throne, and he begins to rule the world, and he is worshiped alongside God. He is a Son of Man—a human being—and yet he is also God.

Jesus pulls back the curtain here. The goal of your working, of your readiness, of your running about, girding loins and lighting lamps—is it in service to the beast, or in service to this Son of Man? This God-man conquerer, who sits on the divine throne, and will return, not just to rule, but—look at verse 38!—to serve. At that point, I have to believe the listeners are a bit surprised. This is a twist. The master comes and sees his servants working and preparing, but instead of being served, the master comes and serves his servants.

Mark 10:45 CSB

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

There is that Upside Down Kingdom story. The twist in all of Jesus’ tales. The Kingdom of God is not about entitlement. It is not about enslavement. It is about mutual servanthood. It is about a community so blessed and content that servants long to serve their master, and masters are pleased to serve their household. No man seeks for himself at the expense of the other, but all are able to graciously and generously seek the good of another.

This sounds like a fantasy, doesn’t it? What human society could live that way? The Beast continues to have his way on this earth. But human societies—Beast Kingdoms—don’t know grace like we do. Human societies have not been set free like we have. Human societies do not have the Son of man sitting on their throne, and do not pledge their allegiance only to him. But we do. And if church, we could learn to live this way, girded and lit, the lives we live will be the greatest witness to the truth and power of Jesus, more than any word we could ever speak.

Expect Great Things

Luke 12:41–48 CSB

“Lord,” Peter asked, “are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?” The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.

I think about my own home here. My wife is the ultimate soccer mom right now. Right now she is heading out to a game in Davis for one of the kids. She attends practice two nights a week and gets home around 9:30 at night. While she’s gone, the duties of the household fall to me. I know she will return, but it will be late. So I’m going to have the light on outside. I’m going to have the kids fed, and the dogs fed. I’m going to have the dishes done and the table cleared. Homework will be completed for the next day. Because I want to show the same care and concern for the good of my family as my wife does, tirelessly. Now, let’s just say, hypothetically, I fail my duties. I let the kids eat what they want. I let them watch movies, I keep ALL the lights on. And my wife walks into what must look to the outside like a rager of a party, because thats the default mode of all humans under 20. And when that happens, that whole cut to pieces thing? I get it (hypothetically, of course). Because I know better, and yet I have been unfaithful.

Church, the Kingdom of God is full of citizens who live and work with the greatest of expectations, that our King will one day return to walk among us, to show us kindness, and to bless us in ways we cannot imagine. Until that time, we have been commissioned to stand in his place, to serve and to bless and provide the whole world with a glimpse of what the Returning King will provide. And because we know this King, we will be judged by our faithfulness.

Klyne Snodgrass: Christian faith is not about believing certain ideas but out living out convictions over the long haul. The church is often impressed with claims to faith. Claims and short-lived faith suffice for nothing. What counts is faithfulness to the end.

Now church, that service is never meant to be restricted to those who have already come to know the King. To show the world the vast scope of Jesus’ love and provision, you cannot simply serve those who are easy to serve, or love those who are easy to love. Your kindness cannot be reserved for those you decide are worthy of your kindness. That is not the way of Jesus. That is not the model of Jesus. The model of Jesus was to love and serve and show kindness toward those who did not deserve it, who were not worthy, who had little to offer in return.

Jesus is not messing around. You must choose today whom you will serve.

You must decide:

Do you choose kingdom values, or worldly wealth?

Do you choose kingdom priorities or worldly anxieties?

Do you choose watching and waiting for God, or running and striving in the rat race?

Do you choose entitled brat, or indentured servant?

To be God’s faithful servants means embodying the values and work of Jesus until the end. It is not enough to merely believe that Jesus exists or to loosely affiliate with the Christian religion. Lip service will not do. And the Bible is clear—Jesus will see through your excuses.

To know him is to be changed by him. And to be changed by him is to live like him.

Because one day, the Son of Man will return. And all the Beast Kingdoms will be set at his feet.

From everyone who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.

Jesus expects something from you. He expects you to live like a person lavished with grace and mercy and forgiveness. To be like a person whose cares and worries and anxieties have been washed away. To be like a person who does not seek value or love, because you already have it in abundance. And as a person so abundantly given, you abundantly share. You live like Jesus, because you have Jesus. To live like there is something else you require or need is to nullify, diminish who Jesus is (the King) and what he came to do (set you free!).

To know him is to be changed by him. And to be changed by him is to live like him. What counts is faithfulness to the end.

DNA QUESTIONS

DISCOVER: When you look around in the world today, do you see people living with a sense of urgency or preparation for something important? What do you think people are preparing for in their daily lives, and how does that compare to what Jesus talks about in Luke 12:35-48?

NUTURE: What do you see in yourself that makes it hard to live with the kind of alertness and responsibility Jesus talks about? What challenges or distractions might keep you from being spiritually prepared?

ACT: What are some specific actions you can take to live in a way that shows you're prepared and faithful to God’s calling? How can you be more responsible with what God has given you?

PRAY