Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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

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.

B. Waiting for His Return

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.

We don’t know when Jesus will come - but it will be in a time we won’t expect.

C. A Timely Warning

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.

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.

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

Peter hears this parable of course and then asks an interesting question.

Let look at the next few verses.

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

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

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?

Kingdom saints are dedicated to kingdom service and to prepared for Christ’s return.

Kingdom saints do what they already know they should do.