Kingdom Disciples Are Ready
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Kingdom Disciples are Ready
Kingdom Disciples are Ready
You can read Jesus’ parables hundreds of times and mystery will still remain. That’s part of what makes these teachings so beautiful—and powerful.Jesus uses parables—metaphors and similes—to help us understand who God is and how he works among us. Parables teach one main lesson and it is important to understand that one lesson in each parable.
So far we’ve looked at the Kingdom Parables in two main groups - the Kingdom takes Root and the Presence of the Kingdom.
Today we start another grouping of the Kingdom Parables - you see Jesus’ parables can be truly understood only when we experience their value in our lives. So we will start a study on the Kingdom Alive in Us. Here, in order to understand God and his kingdom, we have to commit our lives to Jesus as his disciples and accept him as savior (John 3:16–17). From there, God as Holy Spirit will work in us. God may be ultimately unknowable, but he certainly can work in us. And we can see the wonder of his work reflected in other people.
These next 7 or 8 parables teach us about the mystery of living as people who, through our actions, bring heaven to earth. They teach us what it means to live as people who truly follow Jesus, to live as Kingdom Saints.
Now how many of us hate waiting!
The lesson here is that Jesus encourages His disciples to remain faithful to Him and ready for His return.
35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
1. Ready and Waiting
1. Ready and Waiting
vv. 35-40
Ultimately this parable is about preparing for the Lord’s return. This first point will deal with a basic exhortation.
A. Ready for Service
A. Ready for Service
35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
In verses 35-36 we see three expression that give us this idea of being ready for action.
Gird up your loins - means dressed and ready for service - we want to be ready for the Lord in a way that honors him - so thus we need to assess our walk with him. This gives us the idea of someone who is prepared - waiting
Heather and I had reservation the other night - imagine if they weren’t ready for us.
Keep your lights burning - the idea here of maintenance. Get ready for the Lord’s return and stay ready. Constant watch no matter what time it is.
Like men waiting for the master to return from his weeding. They should be ready when the door opens - expectation. For us today it might be like a baby-sitter waiting for the parents to arrive home. That baby-sitter has to hand things over to the owner.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
B. Waiting for His Return
B. Waiting for His Return
37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
Well, its not unusual for Jesus’ teachings to carry a twist and here we find another one in these verses. We see that the master of the house, seeing that the servants cared for everything, turns around and serve them.
And Jesus is the greatest of servant - leadership is an aspect of serving and serving is an aspect of leadership.
We find then that there is a blessing for those whom the master finds ready and waiting for him - third watch is 9 PM - 3 AM.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
We don’t know when Jesus will come - but it will be in a time we won’t expect.
C. A Timely Warning
C. A Timely Warning
39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Since Jesus’ return will be unexpected, then there will be some who won’t be ready, and he now gives us an illustration of that.
We move from master/servant to owner/thief imagery. Jesus was the master and the men were servant, but this time a man is the owner and the thief is Jesus.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
The man is unaware of the thief, not ready for him, and the thief is unwanted. In the first image the master is welcomed and let in the door; but here the thief is not welcome and must break in.
What is the difference from Jesus being a welcome Master versus the dreaded thief. Relationship. There is a bond between the Master and his servants - they know who He is and anticipate his return. But the owner doesn’t know the thief and doesn’t want to.
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
As servants of God we are still accountable - we are to be Kingdom servants - a people who are zealous and faithful in their service to God and anticipating Christ’s return.
2. Do What You Know
2. Do What You Know
Peter hears this parable of course and then asks an interesting question. Let look at the next few verses.
41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
A. Be Faithful in Serving
A. Be Faithful in Serving
This is not an unusual question for Peter. The last couple verses were quite the warning and may have made Peter a bit uncomfortable - who was Jesus referring to?
Well, also not unusual, is Jesus responding to questions with questions. He is going to define what a faithful steward is. The language has changed a bit - Luke moves from slaves to Lord and household staff language. This is someone with a bit more responsibility than the servant above.
In verses 43-44 we find that the faithful steward or manager is responsible for giving the other servants their food while the master is away and when the master returns he gives that servant a blessing and is promoted to higher service.
At this point Jesus is simply illustrating faithfulness - and faithful service is rewarded with greater service and responsibility - do what you know to do now.
B. A Dangerous Thought
B. A Dangerous Thought
45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
He said in his heart, I’ve got plenty of time! He begins to beat them and to eat and drink himself - eat, drink, and be merry.
In v. 46, he’s not looking for the lord. In v. 47 we see a servant that knew what the lord’s will was but didn’t prepare himself and then a servant that didn’t know in v. 48.
A servant who lives like this will be punished upon the master’s return.
C. The Divine Judgment
C. The Divine Judgment
46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
This judgment is pretty rough and very descriptive. There are three punishments listed here for three different servants.
The outright disobedient steward/manager (44-46) is cut in pieces and numbered with the unbelievers. This is a picture of outright rejection.
Someone who knows what the master wants but fails to obey (47) is disciplined with many stripes.
The servant who fails to obey because he doesn’t know (48) what he is to obey is beaten with few stripes.
It appears that with increased accountability come increased judgment for failing.
How do we interpret the above, especially in v. 46? If we understand 46 we can understand the others most likely. Three options:
The servant is a member of the house (a believer). Therefore the punishment cannot be loss of salvation. The punishment means that though he stays in the house he is regarded as unfaithful and unworthy to receive reward. Not a great help - still don’t understand the dismemberment.
Again this servant is a believer, but that punishment is that the believer is rejected and excluded from the believers - but this contradicts volumes of Scripture on eternal security and this would also teach salvation by works.
We have people that are in the ‘household of faith’ and have responsibilities but their description doesn’t tell us their spiritual condition. The dismembered servant, then, is someone who associated with the church but whose attitude shows no faith or real relationship to the master in an positive sense.
(This is why understanding all the kingdom parables is important. There tares among the wheat, there are bad fish with the good fish).
We have a perfect example of this in the Bible - even in the 12 - Judas.
Jesus closes by saying that to whom much is committed much is required!
The answer to Peter is everyone is accountable for what they have been given and for what they know. Every saint in the community of believers is to serve as God has given him ability and knowledge.
CONCLUSION
We must live in such a way as to honor the Lord and be ready for his return - it could be any moment. When he does return, he will assess how we walked with him and the rest of the believers.
Did we serve each other? Did we build each other up? Were we united? Were we faithful?
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Kingdom saints are dedicated to kingdom service and to prepared for Christ’s return.
Kingdom saints do what they already know they should do.