Ready and Waiting

You are in for a bit of a treat today. Today, we go back into the vault to look at a photo of me from grade 9. Are you ready for this? Check out that smile, ladies. It's no wonder Abby fell in love with me. I'm just kidding. This photo is proof that I wasn't always this bulky, this hefty. I was a skinny kid, playing sports mostly to try to fit in somewhere, even though I wasn't very good at them. I played a year and a half of football on a city team because we didn't have school teams.

I remember spending what felt like hours in this position (do the three-point stance). We would practice tackling and blocking drills from this stance, no matter what position we played. In case you don't know football, I want to pray for you because there is something wrong with you. I'm just kidding (mostly). This stance, called the three-point stance, is what the linemen do on both teams as they line up on either side of the ball. They use this stance instead of standing upright because this stance stabilizes you with a low center of gravity and helps you be ready to explode with power. The tricky thing is that you get into this stance, and then you wait. The quarterback (the guy who throws the ball) yells out a pattern and then yells "hut," which is the center's signal to give him the ball. But until the ball leaves the ground, no one can move, or it's a penalty. So you are sitting here ready and waiting for the ball to lift off so you can explode out of your stance and try to get past the linemen to whoever has the ball or, if you are on the offence, try to block the other team to give your quarterback enough time to execute the play.

If this is your first week with us at North Park Stratford, welcome. We are going through the gospel of Luke, leading up to Easter, and in today's passage, Jesus teaches his disciples the importance of being ready. So let's get to it and read Luke 12:35-48.

Luke 12:35–48 NIV

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house 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 when you do not expect him.” Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

This is the word of the Lord. Would you pray with me? Pray.

This passage teaches us the importance of being a spiritually and practically prepared people. So let’s look at three things that Jesus tells us to be ready and waiting for. The first is that we are to be ready and waiting for the unexpected.

Be Ready and Waiting for the UNEXPECTED

One of the things that I love about the Holy Scriptures is that not only do they tell us of the goodness of God and how Jesus, God incarnate, became fully human, lived a sinless life, died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and then rose from the dead three days later, they also give us practical and helpful advice for navigating life here and now.

This story in Luke tells us to expect the unexpected. I know that sounds like a movie cliche, but there is great wisdom in applying that cliche to your life.

I am blessed and highly favoured because I married a woman who identifies as a one on the Enneagram. The Enneagram is a personality profile framework that helps you understand a bit more about who you are. There are nine different types on the Enneagram, each one having a different set of motivations and characteristics. The ones are the reformers. They automatically see what can be improved in everything. Ones also have to be prepared for everything. I cannot tell you the number of times I have said, "Honey, we are out of ..." and she replies, "No, we are not, check here and here and here" because she not only has extras, sometimes she will hide the extras so that no one can use them up. When my wife forgets something, or we run out of something, she takes that personally; it hurts her.

My wife is always prepared for things I can’t imagine. When we go on vacation, she has outfits that she never wears but has to take them because, you know, she might need them.

While for some people, being prepared comes naturally, Jesus calls all of us to be ready and waiting for the unexpected.

Luke 12:35 NIV

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,

The more literal translation of this is "Gird your loins and keep your lamps burning." To "gird your loins" is an old phrase. In Jesus' day, everyone wore long robes, which were easy to make and great for ventilation, but were horrible for hard work or warfare. People would "gird their loins"; they would pull their robes up to free their legs and then tie them together around the waist or tuck it into their belt.

Here is a picture to help visualize what this looks like:

This term became a euphemism to show readiness. If you girded your loins, you were ready for anything. Jesus tells us to gird our loins, to be prepared for the unexpected.

How ready are you? Have you prepared for the unexpected? Have you managed your money in a way that an unexpected loss in your job won't mean you are homeless in a month? Have you saved money for some major, surprising house or car repairs? What about expensive but necessary dental work? Are you ready for that, or are you, like most people, living paycheck to paycheck? Have you prepared yourself for your death by making the appropriate arrangements? Have you thought ahead and are ready to respond in a loving way if your child tells you they are gay, bi-sexual or transgender? What will you do if drugs wreak havoc on the life of someone you love?

Jesus wants us to be a prepared people - people who don't just live for the moment but who plan for the future to the glory of God. And not only in the practical things but in the spiritual things as well. Are you prepared to tell someone why you believe in Jesus?

A few years ago, I worked at a roofing supply center, and I was the only Christian who worked there. It was a good shock to my system after spending 10-12 years in full-time pastoring. Every morning around 5:30 AM, I would have breakfast with Jesus. I had my cereal, my orange juice and my Bible at the table. In those sacred moments, I would pray for opportunities to share about Jesus with my co-workers. One day, as I was restocking the store shelves, my friend just straight up asked me why I believed in God. And because I had been praying for it, and because I had lots of practice telling others about it, I told him how I met Jesus. I was ready and waiting for God to answer my prayer to be able to share my faith.

Are you ready and waiting to respond when God unexpectedly calls on you? Are you prepared to share your faith or pray for someone who tells you they have cancer? Have you figured out your spiritual gifts and your place of service to the kingdom of God? These things take preparation.

After Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and was baptized, he spent three years in the Arabian desert, learning about Jesus and how to serve him. He prepared himself, and it resulted in a ministry that changed the world and continues to impact millions of people every day.

Let us gird our loins and be a prepared people.

The first thing in our passage that Jesus tells us is to be ready and waiting for the unexpected. The second thing is to be ready and waiting for the return of Jesus.

Be Ready and Waiting for the RETURN OF JESUS

Because we, as Canadian Christians, are, for the most part, so focussed on having a practical, relevant faith - which I embrace as a core value here at North Park - the subject of the return of Jesus is something that we don’t speak of often. It’s not that it is taboo or even awkward, but it seems so intangible and to some, maybe even irrelevant - like “so what if Jesus comes back.”

But the return of Jesus is crucial to our faith. Recently, we watched with surprise and horror as a large mob of insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol building. Did you know that there is an inscription in the dome of the Capitol? It reads: "One far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." I think that's interesting: sitting above the seat of government on the roof is a reference to the second coming of Jesus. All creation, all history is moving to that divine event, and because we don't know when it will come, we had better get ready for it.

To be sure, anytime we get into eschatology, which is the study of the "end times," we bump up against conjecture, imagination, and sometimes plain, old heresy that we have encountered by people who are often trying to profit from fear. The only thing that I am 100% sure of in eschatology is that Jesus is coming back, and in today's passage in Luke, we see Jesus alluding to it.

Luke 12:40 NIV

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Jesus is referring to himself when he uses the phrase the Son of Man. It is a title he takes on found in the book of Daniel, chapter 7, that reveals both his humanity and his divinity. Jesus is saying that he is coming at an hour when you do not expect him, which, because he is the one saying it, is an obvious description of his second coming. Elsewhere, Jesus talks about it in John 14:3. Luke describes an incident where an angel tells the disciples that he is coming back in Acts 1: 11, just after Jesus' ascension. Paul believed Jesus would return and describes it in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. In the book of Hebrews, it says,

Hebrews 9:28 NIV

so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

The second coming is mentioned throughout the New Testament, and although we don't speak about it very often, it is a key doctrine we need to hold as Christians. Whatever else you believe about the "end times," hold on to the second coming as the foundation of your eschatology. Personally, I am glad that it is such a significant theme in the New Testament and in our passage in Luke because it reminds us of two things. The first is that there is the hope of a better day to come.

The second coming brings hope that there is an end to our pain, to our suffering, to our sin and to our brokenness. It says that there is a day when Jesus will return, and on that day, we, his people, will experience the fullness of the salvation that Jesus bought for us through his death and resurrection. It will mean that there will be no more death to break our hearts and make us fearful. It will mean that there will be no more pain or decay in our bodies, making us bitter and frustrated. There will be no more pandemics to make us isolated and lonely. There will be no more sin that breaks our intimacy with God. The promise of Jesus' second coming is the promise that our best days are still ahead of us.

The second thing the return of Jesus reminds us of is that there is a clock on our time here. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he writes:

Ephesians 5:15–16 NIV

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Why does Paul say the days are evil? Because time is against us. Because there is a clock on our work here, and when Jesus comes back, that's it; we are done; it's over. Our chance to tell people the good news about Jesus so that they can experience forgiveness from and intimacy with God is gone. When Jesus comes, our influence is over, and I would hate it if Jesus comes, and I didn't do everything I could to let people know that there is salvation and hope found in him. That we can be reconciled to God through faith and that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by faith in him.

Jesus is coming back. He has promised it, and he has never broken his promise. He might return in 1000 years, or he might return today, but whenever he chooses to come back, he expects those of us who put our faith in him to be ready and waiting for him, prepared to serve him in any way that he calls us to.

Before I move on to my third point, I want to make a small note and draw your attention to something. Look at what Jesus says in verse 37.

Luke 12:37 NIV

It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

lthough Jesus is our king, our master, our Lord, and he expects us, his servants, to be ready to serve at all times, he rewards our faithfulness and serves us. I don't know if you have ever watched the show "Downton Abbey." I watched it, and I enjoyed it. Perhaps too much. But one thing I noticed is that you don't see the family serving the servants. You don't see the family roll up their sleeves, cook a big meal for all the servants, wait on them and then do the dishes. Even though friendly towards the servants, it's still clear that the family is up here and the servants are down here. But Jesus doesn't approach us like that. He is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, and he deserves our service, but he turns and serves us. He has us recline at the table and waits on us because he is good and his love endures forever.

Okay, that’s my little aside. My first point was that Jesus wants us to be ready and waiting for the unexpected. The second point was he wants us to be ready and waiting for his second coming. The third and final point of what Jesus is saying to us this morning in our passage is that we are to be ready and waiting to give an account.

Be Ready and Waiting to GIVE AN ACCOUNT

Most people don't like the idea that God is our judge. It's a subject that makes us uncomfortable. The idea that we are all accountable to God for our thoughts, our actions, even our inactions rubs us the wrong way because deep down, we all know that we don't measure up; that we have thought, said, did and didn't do things that violated the nature and the will of God. We don't like that we would be pronounced guilty, and so many in our culture today dismiss the idea that God acts as a judge, that we are accountable to him. But the Bible affirms this (which is why many people don't like the Bible).

Genesis 18:25 NIV

Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Isaiah 33:22 NIV

For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.

2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

And in our passage in Luke, Jesus says,

Luke 12:47–48 NIV

“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

The entire passage today talks about how the master will react to his servants. Those who are ready and are found serving when the master returns receive a blessing. Those who live a self-indulgent life, who are focussed on what they want instead of what the Master wants, will be judged harshly. This passage should be a wake-up call to each of us. No one will get to skip this judgment. Like death and taxes and Thanos, it is inevitable. The way we live matters. The way we treat people matters. Fighting temptation matters. Being ready to give an answer for the hope you have matters and knowing Jesus matters.

To those of us who know that one day Jesus will return and that we will have to give an account of our lives, Jesus gives us a dire warning. Never one to mince words or fear offending someone, in the parable of the master and his servants, Jesus says that the master will judge the servant who lived for himself harshly and will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. If we are people who have faith, who put our trust in Jesus and call him our master, then this story serves as a sombre reminder to keep our eyes on Jesus and to serve him wholeheartedly.

Conclusion

Have you ever heard of the "Pony Express?" It was a mail service that started in April of 1860 and only lasted until October of 1861 that operated in the United States. This historically famous mail service between Missouri and California depended on constant movement and readiness. Relay stations were established every ten to fifteen miles. A horse-backed rider would shout aloud as he approached a station, giving the station master very short notice that he needed to be outside waiting with a fresh mount. Even when a rider came to the station where he was to spend the night, another rider was already mounted and waiting for him to arrive, ready to grab the first rider's bundle of packages and continue the trip. They had to be constantly ready and waiting for whatever came.

The same is true for you and me. We need to be ready and waiting for the unexpected, for the return of Christ and to one day give an account of our lives to our God. Let's live in such a way that when we stand before God in judgement, we hear the words, "well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share in your master's happiness."

Pray.