Ready, or Not...
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· 109 viewsWe, as Jesus' followers, must be ready for his return, faithfully doing his work until he comes again.
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Intro
ILL: Hide and Seek: “Ready or not, here I come!”
Whether you are a follower of Jesus or are just interested in what he has to say, you need to know that Jesus is coming back. The question isn’t if, but when. Or rather, the question is: “Are you ready, or not?”
In our passage this morning, Christ gives us three parables that show us what will happen if we’re ready, and what will happen if we’re not. Stand with me as we read from Luke 12:35-40.
This is God’s Word, and if you let it, it will change your life.
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,
36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.
38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!
39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.
40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Pray
It doesn’t take very long to learn that some things come out of left field. They are total surprises. Things happen when you least expect them, and suddenly you find yourself dealing with issues you’ve never faced before. A student walks into class one day, and the teacher says, “Pop quiz!” A person takes a sudden fall and has to be brought into the hospital in the back of an ambulance. A veteran comes home early from active duty to surprise his family. Some things, good and bad, cannot be predicted.
But other things you have plenty of warning. It’s that check engine light you’ve been ignoring. It’s the more and more frequent pain in your joints that you keep putting off asking the doctor about. It’s a downpour that you knew was coming, but didn’t prepare for.
The second coming of Christ is one of those things that we should all be ready for. He doesn’t hide the ball from us - he tells us over and over again in his Word that he is coming back. Look in verse 40:
40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
While we may not know when that day will be, we know it’s coming. Which is all the more reason we need to be ready.
This is the point that Jesus is making as he teaches in Luke 12. Notice the initial command of verse 35:
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,
Two ideas show readiness to his first-century audience. First is staying dressed. Do you remember from Sunday School a long time ago when you learned about the armor of God: those essential pieces that would protect you from the spiritual warfare that rages around you? Do you remember the belt?
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
That’s the image here: keep your clothes on so that you are ready at a moment’s notice. I’m reminded of the minutemen, those faithful colonists who could be ready for war within one minute, day or night. Many stayed dressed at all hours so that they did not waste a moment when needed.
I’m also reminded of the first Passover. God told the Israelites through Moses how they were to eat that meal:
11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
This was not a meal to be savored, but scarfed. Why the haste? Because any moment now, the call could come from Pharoah to get out, and God knew they needed to move before he changed his mind! They were to stay dressed so they were ready.
The second image in verse 35 is that of a lamp, kept trimmed and burning. Oil lamps of that day varied, but the most common type held just enough olive oil to last throughout the night. But someone still had to get up several times to trim the wick and keep the lamp going. Usually the housewife did that. But in the temple, the boy Samuel had that job. The idea is that, no matter when someone needed the light of the lamp, it should always be burning. Always ready.
Now comes the first parable - the parable of the ready servants.
36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.
38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!
These servants are ready and waiting. The master comes home and immediately they are there, welcoming him back into his home. What’s interesting are the benefits afforded to these ready servants.
First, they are blessed. This is the same “blessed” that Jesus used in the sermon on the mount: “Blessed are the
poor in spirit
those who mourn
the meek
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
the merciful
the pure in heart
the peacemakers
those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake...”
That’s no accident, by the way. Christ shows us through this story that there is blessing - happiness that is derived from being found ready at the Master’s return. Talking about being ready for Christ’s return, Paul tells the Thessalonian believers:
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
That blessing of eternal destiny in and through and with Jesus Christ belongs to us because of Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Christ made us co-heirs to the promises of God, including the promise of eternity with him in heaven. Are you ready, church? Then be ready! Make yourself ready for his return. Wait for him with expectancy! Sit on the edge of your seat, ready to jump whenever that door knocks!
There’s another reward for the ready servant: this one is in verse 37 as well:
37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.
This master is so overjoyed at the ready of his servants that he becomes their servant! This would have been preposterous in the first-century mindset. No master would stoop to the level of serving his own servants! Well, this Master will, and already has!
45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
When the servants are ready to serve their master, they are merely imitating their Master’s service. We show others the love of God in how we serve him - both our love of him and his love of them. So the ready servant receives the five-star treatment care of the master.
And it doesn’t matter how late it is: whether it’s in the late night or wee-hours of the morning. The ready servant is always ready. That takes a discipline and an expectancy that frankly many don’t have. Many people, and by that I mean all people at some point, just aren’t ready.
I get it, the experiences of life can leave you feeling like you’ve been in an avalanche. Sometimes it’s hard to even know which way is up anymore. I’ve been there. But we cannot all the distractions of the immediate to overwhelm our preparedness for the eternal. We must not allow today’s fires to scare us from tomorrows s’mores. We must be ready - all the time - for Christ to come.
At this point, Jesus changes parables. He moves from a good thing to look forward to toward a bad thing:
39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.
Not only are we to be ready for the greatness of his appearing, we must also be ready for the terror of his appearing. You see, when he comes again it will not be “good news of great joy that will be for all people.” For some it will be the coming of a thief - bad, bad. For those who do not serve him, for those who reject him, his coming again brings judgment. We’ll hear the announcement from three angels tonight in Revelation 14 about that very judgement.
Jesus’ point here is that, if you know the thief is coming, you wouldn’t let him break in, would you? Of course not! All the more reason for those who are not ready to get prepared now! As Paul, quoting Isaiah, says in 2 Corinthians:
2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Get ready, before it’s too late! Oh that we would heed the warnings and prepare ourselves for his return! That we would clean out the filth within our hearts, fill our lamps and trim our wicks, put on our clothes and stand watching intently, waiting earnestly for his appearing! Oh that we would be ready for our Master to come back!
As he is teaching this fact, that he will return and we must be ready, the gears in Peter’s head start turning:
41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?”
Sometimes Jesus speaks to a specific crowd within a crowd. He singles out one group and talks directly to them. Peter’s question seems to imply that he knows it applies to the disciples (“to us”), but does it also apply to others? Is this a parable limited to Jesus’ faithful followers, or does it belong to all generally?
Jesus, in true Jesus style, answers with his own question, and begins a third parable:
42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?
The question has now turned from the readiness of the servant to the faithfulness of the servant to fulfill his calling. This isn’t just a matter of whether or not a servant can do his job - the faithful and wise servant has all the capabilities to perform his work. He has the resources of the entire household at his disposal. But will he perform?
That’s the point Jesus is making. If he does perform:
43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
His reward becomes higher and more honorable service. God delights in our faithfulness as his servants, and we find our delight in his delight. Like a child who feels valued when her teacher gives her an “A,” or a player whose coach gives him an “Atta boy,” so the servants of Christ find immeasurable joy in his statement, “Well done!”
I have to be honest - I could care less about the streets of gold and all that jazz - I want to hear those words from Christ. But not all will. Not all who claim to follow Jesus really do. And they will be found out:
45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,
46 the master of that servant 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 put him with the unfaithful.
This servant is slothful. Instead of being faithful he begins to abuse his authority and misuse his master’s possessions for his own comfort and pleasure. You can’t live for yourself and be ready for the Master’s return at the same time. I can either serve God or myself, and you will either serve God or serve yourself too. And believe me, both of us make really bad masters!
Again, the question is not whether the servant can do the work, but will he. Will he be faithful, even if the master doesn’t come for weeks, months, or years? Will he continue to be faithful when the master seems to be far away, with no sign of return anytime soon?
Finally, there is one more point to make about unfaithful servants. God knows that some will have very little knowledge of his will, while others will have much more. Some sit in churches Sunday after Sunday, hearing the Word of God taught and preached and seeing it lived out before their eyes, but are still not faithful servants of Jesus Christ. Jesus has something to say about what they are “due:”
47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.
They know what God expects and they were not ready - were not faithful. What do they receive: a severe beating! Well, they earned it, right? They knew what the Master required but they still did not obey his command.
There is a second type of servant who was unfaithful:
48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
It’s not that God makes excuses for sin - he still punished this servant for his wrongs. But then comes the main point for Peter (and the other disciples):
48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
When we are given great authority in the Kingdom of God, we have also been given great responsibility to exercise that authority will faithfulness. We are called, as God’s children, to be ready for Christ’s return and faithful in Christ’s work. We have been given so much, and God will hold us accountable accordingly.
So, are you ready? Or not? I will be up here at the front. If you hear God speaking to you, telling you you’re not ready, I’d love to help you come to faith in Jesus. The Bible says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Come speak with me and let me help you do that.
If you hear God saying that you need to be more faithful in your service to him, I’d invite you to come pray up here. The Master has great expectations, but he also gives us his Spirit to empower us for his work. Come ask him for help today.
Pray