Are You Ready?
Notes
Transcript
Are You Ready?
Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning. Then you will be like servants 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 are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them. Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, those servants will be blessed.
But understand 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 must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”
“Lord,” said Peter, “are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”
And the Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their portion at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
I’m pretty sure everyone in here knows someone who procrastinates. They try to wait until the last minute to do things and it rarely works out for them. You simply cannot wait when it come to the Lord.
You some times hear someone make a casual remark such as, “I hope I don’t die suddenly. I want to have time to straighten out some things in my life.”
The questions begs to be asked, “If there are things that need to be done, why don’t you do them now?”
We shouldn’t wait until the doctor tells us that we have three weeks to live to straighten out our lives.
The truth is that none of us knows we have another three weeks to live. We are not promised tomorrow. We desperately need to get our lives right with God NOW!
You must be ready to move when Christ returns. Do not think that you can make preparations for his coming then.
Jesus spoke often of his return. He told his disciples in John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
“There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, and Christ return is mentioned in no less than 318 times in those chapters. Statistically, one verse in twenty-five mentions the Lord’s return.”
In Luke’s gospel (12:35) we find the first extended teaching on the Second Coming of Jesus and here he warns his followers to be ready.
We see the relationship between Jesus’ prior words about treasure in heaven and watchfulness is obvious. The one who has his treasure in heaven will be ready and watching for the Lord’s return; the one who has his heart set on the treasures of this world will be caught completely unaware at His coming.
In the verses of today’s text we are given three distinct characteristics of a “good waiter.”
Waiting is not the absence of doing anything constructive.
Waiting is not a static state, it is a time when God is working behind the scenes and his primary focus is on us.
The modern translation “The Message” paraphrases Romans 8:24 as, “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting.”
We try to wait patiently.
The hardest part of waiting is just that waiting. Waiting involves time and we don’t know when our waiting will be over.
The First Characteristic of a “Good Waiter” is Preparation.
(vv. 35-36)
What do we say to someone today that we want to be prepared to join us on some outing – We say “be dressed and ready.”
Jesus said in verse thirty-five, Luke 12:35
Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.
Such a banquet was of indeterminate length. A wedding banquet might consist of only a single meal and require only a few hours; but if the host were a person of wealth, the feasting could go on for days.
It was impossible then to know exactly when the master of the house would return, so when the master would return was anyone’s guess. But the uncertainty did make these servant’s less vigilant.
These servants were truly remarkable. They did not give in to fatigue, they displayed no irritation, they did not sport an “attitude.” Rather they kept the light burning and them-selves in a constant state of readiness to spring up at a moments notice to joyous welcome their master home. In 2 Thess. 3:13, Paul urges Christians “…. Do not grow weary in well doing.” We can not give up and stop, or even tire and slow down, there is too much at stake.
But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
Whenever we as Christians take our eyes off of Jesus, we will begin to slack off, the church will begin to decline. We can not stop because we are having a spiritual dry moment, we need to be faithful.
The Second Characteristic of a “Good Waiter” is Expectancy
(v. 38)
Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, those servants will be blessed.
The second watch was the three hours before midnight (9 p.m. – 12 Midnight) and the third watch was the three hours after midnight (Midnight to 3 a.m.).
Though it was late at night these servant’s were still dressed and ready for service. That is, they were not only fully clothed they had their “waist girded,” which means they had their long robes tucked into their belts, making it possible for them to move quickly to the door. They had done everything in their power to be ready.
This verse reveals that the time of the Lord’s return should not be the Christians major concern. What is important is being prepared and living a life of expectancy.
Paul describes the way that he tried to live his life in his letter to the Philippians 1:20 when he says “my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but will all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” The word translated “earnest expectation” describes “straining one’s neck to get a glimpse of something ahead.”
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
Paul’s life was lived in constant expectancy of Christ imminent return.
In the same letter Paul later (Philippians 3:20) says, “….we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Here again with the words “eagerly wait” he describes a time of waiting with intense longing and eager expectation.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
The Third Characteristic of a “Good Waiter” is Faithfulness.
Concerning Faithfulness Jesus has two things to say.
1. FOR THE FAITHFUL THE LORD’S RETURN HOLDS REWARD
(v.37, 41-44)
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.
The master was so moved by the faithfulness of his servants that instead of sitting down at the table to be served, he dressed himself to wait on them ( in fact the same word is used in the original language to describe how they were dressed ready for service.
He made them to recline at the table and he served them!
In a few short weeks Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist and washed the feet of the twelve as they sat in the upper room (John 13:1-17).
A good example of faithfulness is found in the life of John Broadus. “John Broadus, (was) the faithful president of Southern Baptist Seminary during the (American) Civil War. At the war’s end the seminary had four professors and seven students, one of those was blind. Only the blind student took Broadus’s course on preaching. Under the circumstances, many teachers would have been tempted to give less than their best. But not Dr. Broadus, who gave painstaking care to every lecture. Those magnificent lectures became the substance for the most famous and influential of all books on preaching (homilitecs) in American history, The Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. Broadus’s authority was increased because he was a faithful servant. But that is only the beginning of the story. The final story is being written now, as Broadus serves Christ in the final estate.” [Hughes. p. 64]
The disciple’s minds were reeling a the implications of what Jesus has said so in verse forty-one, Peter asks a question that they were all thinking Luke 12:41-44
“Lord,” said Peter, “are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”
And the Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their portion at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
We will be blessed if we are ready. Those who are ready for Christ return are not couch potatoes just sitting back lethargically, nor are they those who are setting dates, and sitting on the church steps dressed in white.
They are alive and active, serving Christ to best of their ability.
Perhaps you are serving in all kinds of community things. But those are not the things Jesus will ask you about.
What are you doing for Christ and his church? When is the last time you spoke to someone about their relationship with God? When is the last time you acted out of charity toward someone? You are going to have to give an account.
My goal is not to scare you into doing what you already know you are supposed to do. My goal is to wake you.
2. FOR SOME THE LORD’S RETURN HOLDS ONLY TERROR.
(vv. 39-40, 45-46)
There is a strong contrast between two groups of people drawn with the word “but,” in verse thirty-nine.
In the previous verses the image of the master/servant was intended as an encouragement to faithfulness.
The master’s return was welcomed and comes with a reward. Now the image shifts to that of the owner/thief and is intended as a warning to those who live without an expectancy of the Lord’s eminent return.
To these individuals the Lord’s return in not welcomed and his arrival spells disaster.
Verse thirty-nine, Luke 12:39-40
But understand 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 must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”
What makes the difference between whether Jesus is seen as the welcomed Master or the dreaded thief.
The difference is relationship.
There is a loving bond between the master and his servant’s. The servant’s anxiously await the master’s return because of who he is. The home owner does not know the thief nor does he want to. He hopes the thief never comes for his coming produces loss.
So when will the Lord return?
I like the way the celebrated Scottish preacher of the last century, Robert Murray McCheyne looked at it. He “used to ask groups of preachers the question, ‘Do you think the Lord is coming tonight?’ the preachers would quietly respond, ‘No.’ Then McCheyne would counter with a quote from our text, ‘The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” …. There is a sense in which humbly saying, ‘I don’t think he will come back tonight,’ increases the likelihood that it will be tonight, though of course no one knows when he will return.”
The apostle Peter wrote to the Christian community about some who were mocking the coming of the Lord, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."
Peter replied, 2 Peter 3:3-11
Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. “Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.”
But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world of that time perished in the flood. And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness
John would write to the same churches after the deaths of Peter and Paul, 1 John 2:28
And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
Paul, writing to the Thessalonians some 20 years after these words were spoken, said, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
The thrust of Jesus message can be summed up in two words: Get ready!
Are you prepared for Jesus’ second coming?
Our heavenly Father sent his Son to this earth the first time to offer all of us who were dead in our trespasses and sins the hope of salvation, if we would invite Jesus into our hearts as Lord.
The risen Lord is still offering the hope of salvation to all who believe in him as Lord. Once we accept him as our Lord, he places us into his household and gives us spiritual gifts and areas of responsibility to spread the good news.
In the midst of our service to the Lord we are called to remain faithful to our Lord by being dressed in readiness, keeping alert in the midst of our ministry, knowing that the Lord will return, and then he will bring blessing to those servants who are faithful and judgment to those servants who are unfaithful.
Jesus is coming again.
The first time he came with the offer of salvation; the second time the world will see him rule and reign on this earth as the righteous Judge.
If we reject his wonderful offer of salvation now, we will have to meet him as our Judge at the time of our death or in his glorious second coming. Since now is the day of salvation, I beg you, don’t put off his offer of salvation today.
You may not have another day on this earth to make your decision.
Today is a very serious day. It can be a turning point for you.
I pray everyone here is saved and on their way to Heaven, but perhaps you don’t know.
I want everyone that will to stand and close your eyes.
Holy Spirit I pray that you convict every heart in this congregation right now.
I pray that if they don’t know you that you will begin to draw them to yourself.
Satan we bind and curse you from here. You will leave these sons and daughters of God alone and will not hinder this service.
With your eyes still closed, think about where you would spend eternity.
If Jesus were come at this very moment, would you be left or would you go with him?
Are you ready for the bridegroom or are you still searching for oil?
There is nothing to be ashamed about if you are aren’t sure.
I love you. Your church family loves you.
More importantly, God loves you.
He is calling you now.
If you aren’t 100% sure you are going to Heaven, you are 100% not.
I ask you to just look at me. Today you may very well be making the decision to go to Heaven or go to Hell.
Both are real. Both are deserved.
Right now in this moment I am calling for you to repent and be saved.
Should you let fear control you and reject this calling, it may never come again.
All I am asking for is for you to look at me if you aren’t certain of your salvation.
