Luke chapter 12, Oki will shortly come up and preach for us after we've sung our next
psalm from this passage in God's Word.
It's on page 1045, Luke chapter 12, verse 35 to verse 48.
Again, let's hear God's Word.
Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning, like men 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.
I tell you the truth, 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 second or third watch of the night.
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,
Amen.
And we'll turn back to that in just a moment.
But before we do that, we'll say again...
Evening, everyone.
Good afternoon.
It's been a privilege to share the Word of God with you all.
May God bless us all.
So the passage that we have read today is talking about what should be our attitude toward the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The teaching about second coming is very important in Christian faith.
This doctrine is included in Apostle's Creed.
My church recites Apostle's Creed every week, and you may know each line.
And one line said like this,
When Jesus visited this earth for the first time, he came as a little and weak baby, without any power.
But when he returns to this world, he will be the great judge who comes to judge the living and the dead.
At his first coming, Jesus was born in a stable and from a poor family.
But when he comes for the second time, he will have the power and authority over the heaven and earth given by the Father.
Jesus himself prophesied about his return in Mark chapter 13, verse 26 to 27.
I will read it for you.
At that time, people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heaven.
This is the promise of the Lord, on which we as Christians ground our faith and our hope.
Jesus will surely come.
No doubt about that.
But there is a problem.
The problem is no one knows the time of his second coming.
No one in history knows when he will come.
The angels in heaven do not know.
Even Jesus himself had no knowledge about this.
In Mark chapter 13, verse 32.
But about that day or hour, no one knows.
Not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.
And here, Jesus spoke in his human nature.
So there is a tension here.
On the one hand, Jesus' return to this world is certain.
But on the other hand, the time when he will come is uncertain.
Jesus will surely come, but no one knows when he will come.
In this kind of tension, what should Christians do?
And this is the main message of this passage.
We should wait for him, and we should be ready.
We can see here that Jesus then gives several analogies to describe his own return.
In verse 35, it is said, stay dressed for action.
It means getting ready to work.
At that time, the dress that man wore is a long flowing robe, and it can be a hindrance to work with.
So he has to gather up his robes under his belt to leave himself free for activity.
Keep your lamps burning means that the master can come at any time.
He might come at night, so we must be ready and have our lamps burning.
Verse 36.
Jesus here gives an analogy in waiting for him.
It's like the attitude of a servant who is waiting for the master to come home from a wedding feast.
The master might come in the middle of the night or toward the daybreak.
He will certainly come, but the time is uncertain.
So the servant should be ready.
But then Jesus immediately adds that those who are found to be ready will get a great reward.
Verse 37, it is said, blessed are those servants.
Toward these faithful servants, Jesus himself will honor them and serve them at the table.
Can you imagine a situation like this?
Imagine that you are invited to a dinner party at the White House, and the president himself serve you the meal.
I think it's not possible, but just imagine like that.
Or imagine that you are invited to the palace and served by the royal family members.
What would you feel?
We would feel greatly honored, wouldn't we?
If being served by those very important persons, very important people can bring such a great honor.
What a greater honor when on that day, when Jesus comes, he will serve his faithful servants.
I am sure that we want to be among those servants, don't we?
And in verse 38, Jesus repeats this blessing.
If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants.
Then, to emphasize the uncertainty of his second coming, Jesus gives an analogy of a thief.
Verse 39, it is said,
Every time I go with my wife to a strange place or a crowded place, my wife always reminds me to beware of thieves.
Be careful with your wallet.
She's the one who is always alert about this.
Do you know why?
Because in her lifetime, she has lost her money several times.
She is familiar with theft.
I remember a few years ago that the theft happened just near where we live.
She was inside a bajaj.
You know a bajaj, right?
It's a transportation in India.
It's like, it's not a taxi.
It's a car, basically.
But there has no window mirror.
Right?
So she's in bajaj with our daughter.
Suddenly, a man riding a motorbike approached her and grabbed her back.
So she's in the bajaj.
And the motorbike just near the bajaj.
And they grabbed her back.
No one of my wife has a trauma with theft and keeps watching her purse or her back.
Jesus said, you also must be ready.
For the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Why did Jesus need to repeat this again and again?
Because we as human beings are easily unguarded.
I believe that if anyone of us have our house broken in two by thieves, then we will increase our security system.
We have that traumatic experience.
We will keep our eye on our house more closely.
But that is still good.
Because that experience makes us more cautious for the next one.
We anticipate the next one.
However, the second coming of Christ cannot be repeated.
It will happen only one time throughout the history of mankind.
There will be no third or fourth coming of Christ.
So this is very, very serious.
Now, how can we get ready for Christ's return?
What should we do while we wait for him?
Let us pay attention to the next section where Jesus answered Peter.
When Peter asked, are you telling this parable for us or for all?
It seems that he thought to himself, we are your disciples.
How come we are not ready for the Master's coming?
Jesus didn't directly answer his question.
But we will learn about what our attitude should be toward his second coming.
If we look verse 42 to 43, I'm sorry that I used the ESV version.
We see again here the relation between a master and his servant.
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.
Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
Now this time, Jesus uses the word manager instead of servant.
I believe that from this story, we develop the concept of stewardship.
Why does Jesus use the word manager?
It could mean that in this time of waiting, there is a task entrusted to each one of us
and that we have to be responsible for this task.
Since we do not know the deadline, we cannot be careless or unguarded.
In verse 42, the manager is set over the master's household
and he needs to give his fellow servants food at the proper time.
Then Jesus tells us that there are four kinds of responses
that a servant can give in this situation.
The first response is that a servant who is found faithful in doing his responsibilities.
I think this servant understands that all things in the house are not his.
They are entrusted to him.
He also knows his responsibilities, so all food and drinks in that house are not his.
He can enjoy some of the food and some of the drinks,
but he also needs to share it with other servants.
The second type of response is a servant who misuses his master's trust.
In verse 45,
This response implies that the servant thinks to himself,
that the master will not return shortly.
Then he acts as if he was the master of the house.
He eats and drinks as much as he wants.
He doesn't care about his fellow servants.
He even bids the male and female servants.
These acts are indeed against his master's command.
And verse 46 in our Bible here,
they are called as unbelievers.
Unbelievers.
The third type of response is a servant who neglects his task.
He is not ready to welcome the coming of his master.
Verse 47 it is said,
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.
We can see here that we cannot just wait for Christ's return passively,
not doing anything,
just get like we have bought a ticket for the train or for the flight,
and we just do nothing.
We can do anything we want.
It's not like that.
We have tasks to complete.
So in this third response,
the servant knows.
He knows his master's will,
but he neglects it.
This is a lazy servant.
And the last type of response is a servant who neglects his task
because he does not know his master's will.
Verse 48,
Then Jesus gives an important principle.
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.
The third servant receives more severe beating than the fourth servant
because he understands more.
So some commentators say that we should be careful
with how much we've heard the Bible or the Word of God.
Not how long have we been Christians,
how much of the Word of God that we have heard,
we obeyed.
This is a warning for us.
God will not give his judgment based on how much we have heard,
but on how much we have done the Word of God.
So as a reflection of this passage,
I would like to ask you two big questions
or two principles.
The first one,
what is our real hope?
Do we really long for the second coming of Christ?
This passage that we are discussing on
is preceded by the teaching about worry.
Do not be anxious about your life,
about what you will eat,
or what you will wear.
It doesn't mean that we don't have to think about our future.
We have to remember that Jesus himself is poor.
He was the son of a carpenter.
Jesus must know what it feels like to think about what to wear
or what to eat.
But the meaning of the word anxious here
is to make something the focus of one's life.
So Jesus is saying that his disciples should not focus their life on earthly things.
How many Christians are busy piling up their wealth?
Many people are so worried with their future
that they're working very hard,
so hard to get lots and lots of money.
These people believe that when they have a huge amount of wealth,
they will feel secure.
But Jesus said in verse 29 to 30,
Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink,
nor be worried.
For all the nations of the world seek after these things,
and your Father knows that you need them.
Then Jesus closed the section with these words,
Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old.
with a treasure in heavens that does not fail,
where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
It seems that Jesus wants to say this to disciples and to us today.
Do not focus your eyes on earthly things,
but turn your eyes upon Jesus on his second coming.
Now, if we know what the end will be,
we should have a plan about what to prepare
to anticipate the end.
And that's natural.
After my family and I had lived in Edinburgh
for my study for almost four years,
we know that we would soon go back home to Jakarta.
So we had a plan to prepare ourselves.
We began getting rid of our belongings.
My wife, months before we left,
she posted those things on Facebook,
asking if there was any Indonesian student
who wanted those things.
Then we made appointments with those students.
They came to our house to get our things freely.
And many things that we cannot take with us to Indonesia,
we donated to charity shops.
Then we planned to enroll our children in Indonesian schools.
So we began teaching them formal Indonesian language.
Every day we tried to read stories to them in Indonesian.
Even we read Bible to them in Indonesian.
Many words they didn't understand,
but we tried to do that.
So if we know the end,
we will make preparation for that thing.
Many unbelievers think that there is no life after death.
For them, the end is nothing.
So what do they do?
Let's eat, drink, and be merry.
Do whatever you like while you are living.
But we as Christians,
we know what the end will be.
Jesus will return.
He will surely come.
But what preparations have we made?
I think that depends on what we really hope.
Do we long for Jesus' return?
And we hope for something or someone,
only if we love that thing or that person.
How can we hope for Jesus to come?
How can we long for him to return?
If we do not love him.
Revelation chapter 22, Jesus said,
I am coming soon.
It's like there's a sense of excitement,
enthusiasm.
I have saved you from death.
I have paid you and redeemed you from sin.
I have prepared places for you in heaven.
I am coming soon.
Just wait a minute.
I have a plan to do.
After that, I am coming soon.
He longs to see us.
He desires to pick us up to heaven.
But what about us?
Do we love him?
Do we long for his return?
I will be surprised and would be disappointed
if in these days, in these three days,
I will come back to Jakarta
and then my family would be surprised.
Oh, okay.
Why do you come today?
Why not next week or next month?
I don't feel they don't want me.
They don't hope for my coming
and they don't love me.
Do we long for Jesus' return?
Second point, every one of us is a servant.
Each one of us is a steward.
How much do we realize that all that we have is given by God
and that each one of us will be accountable to him when he comes?
I think most of us, including myself, do not always realize this truth.
It's because most of our belongings are obtained by our own toil.
We buy our own car with our own money and we work for that.
This is my car.
This is my house.
This is my money.
But we need to remember that all our belongings is God's blessings.
Our house is not our house.
God's house.
Our car is not ours.
It's God's car.
This wallet is not only mine.
This wallet and all the money inside it is God's.
Paul once rebuked the church in Corinth.
1 Corinthians 4, verse 7.
What do you have that you did not receive?
If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
Sometimes in a commonity in a church, in my church,
we have a joke about the position of being a treasurer.
We often say that no one wants to be a treasurer
because the treasurer does not count his or her own money.
They count someone else's money.
But the truth is, all of us are treasurers.
All that we have is entrusted by God.
And when Jesus returns, we will have to make report of what we have done
with all that he has given us.
If we're really aware of this truth,
we can be kept from being arrogant, from being proud.
Furthermore, we will have a thankful heart
because nothing that we have that doesn't come from the Lord.
Realizing this truth also keeps us from too much worry.
You probably know a story about one crazy guy.
His name is John Wesley.
One day he was just coming back from a ministry
when suddenly a man cried out to him,
Wesley, there's bad news for you.
Your house is burnt down.
Then what was Wesley's reply?
Praise the Lord.
That is God's house.
I lose one responsibility.
According to his world standard, he must have been crazy.
But he certainly understands this truth that all that he has come from God.
Lastly, if we realize, if we really understand the concept of stewardship,
we would be kept from being envious,
from the sin of envy.
Once I heard a preacher who made a surprising statement.
He said that he took pity on people who are greatly blessed by God.
Oh, what a pity.
He took pity for people who are greatly blessed by God.
What?
How come?
Then he quoted this verse.
Because to whom much was given,
to him much was required.
So don't feel envious or jealous with other people who have more.
Be thankful with what we have.
Be responsible with it.
In every grace lays responsibility.
So if we feel ourselves to have been more blessed than other people,
don't ever be proud.
Do not ever despise others.
Because that means we have more responsibilities.
We have more blessings.
We have more responsibilities.
And what we have done with all those blessings.
To whom much is given, to him much is demanded.
When Jesus comes as the great judge,
and we all stand before him in his court,
Jesus will not ask,
how much do you have?
Or what is the highest position you have in this world?
Because all that we have comes from him.
All that we have is his grace, his blessings.
But he will surely ask,
what have you done with all my blessings?
Some of us perhaps have a great wealth,
a lot of money.
Praise the Lord.
But what have we done with that wealth?
Do we spend it only to satisfy our desires,
our own pleasures,
buy luxurious things?
Do we use our money for God's work?
Some of us are healthy.
Praise the Lord.
But what we have done,
what have we done with the health?
We have talents, abilities.
Praise the Lord.
But what have we done with all those blessings?
Let us pray that God uses what we have
according to his will.
May each one of us,
we can ask,
how can we glorify God's name
with all we have?
To close this sermon,
I want to ask you and myself
a classic question.
What if Jesus comes today?
Are we ready to welcome him?
There is a story of Robert Moshane.
You know him very well.
He was a great preacher in Scotland from Dundee.
Once he spoke to a group of pastors
and he ended with this question,
do you think Christ will come tonight?
And some of the pastors answered quietly,
I don't think so.
And Moshane said,
I think he might come tonight.
For the Son of Man is coming
at an hour you do not expect.
What if Jesus comes tonight?
Well, if he doesn't come tonight,
we should ask that question again tomorrow
and the next day,
and the next day.
Let us focus our life
on his second coming.
Let us use all that God
has entrusted to us
to serve him
and let us do his will.
May God help us
so that when he comes,
he will find us ready
and faithful.
Amen.