Okay, alright.
Today's scripture reading today comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12.
Please follow along in your bulletin.
Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.
Be like men who are waiting for their masters when he returns from the wedding feast,
so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those slaves whom their master will find on the alert when he comes.
Truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve,
and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.
Whether he comes in the second watch, or even the third, and finds them so,
blessed are those slaves.
But, be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming,
he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
You too, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.
Peter said,
Lord, are you addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?
And the Lord said,
Who then is the faithful and sensible steward,
whom his master will put in charge of his servants,
to give them their rations at the proper time?
Blessed is the slave from whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
But if that slave says in his heart,
My master will be a long time in coming,
and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women,
and to eat and drink and get drunk,
the master of that slave 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 assign him a place with the unbelievers.
And that slave, who knew his master's will,
and did not get ready,
or act in accord with his will,
will receive many lashes.
But the few who did not know it,
and committed deeds worthy of a flogging,
will receive but few.
From everyone who has been given much,
much will be required.
And to whom they entrusted much,
of him they will ask all the more.
This is the reading of God's Word.
Wow, it has been at least five weeks
since I've been able to get up here and say,
how you guys doing?
How you guys doing?
Come on, five weeks.
I was expecting something much greater than that.
That was just not good enough.
How you guys doing?
Great, that's good, that's good.
We talk a lot.
About being on a journey here.
This summer I went on a journey.
I got back last Saturday
and ended up with strep throat.
A great gift from my kiddos
who are back home
and they are trying to heal up
and Christina will bring them back this Saturday.
So I'm praying for her and her jet lag state
and bringing them back.
The journey this summer was crazy.
We left here, we went to London,
we went to Oxford,
we took a group of people from here to Oxford,
we studied,
we went back to London,
we flew to Bologna,
we got in a car,
we traveled with some friends for their birthday
and the best part was
it was just a gift to us
and so we didn't have to pay for a lot of it.
That was amazing, right?
That's the best kind of journeys, right?
That it's a free journey.
You know, it's a grace journey.
We went to Bologna
and we went to a little town
where there was nothing happening there,
not even a telephone
and people like Dave Sutherland
were very frustrated
as they held their Blackberries up
and walked around
trying to find a signal
and you could not find a signal for 25 miles
and they just realized,
or they thought,
that a place like this
could not exist in the world anywhere.
So we found a new place like that
and then we drove to Rome
and spent a couple days there
and then we got in this airplane
that was held together by bandages,
I think,
how most European airlines are
and we prayed a lot.
You know, it's like one of those airlines,
you read the article
where the guy got on
and he looks out at the wing
and the wing is torn up
but there's a little note
and it says,
don't worry, we know about this.
So it's like one of those airlines.
You get in and you go,
I don't know if this is going to work
but people know about this
and then we fly to Atlanta
and we get into Atlanta
and we drive up to North Carolina
to see my dad
and we have this experience
in North Carolina
where my dad wants to do something
on his bucket list
and so he takes all the grandkids
to whitewater rafting
which he thinks is going to be very peaceful
because it's called Zen tubing.
Ooh, Zen.
Don't ever go Zen tubing
unless you want an unpeaceful time
and about halfway down the journey
as Kip was running through all the trees
and just being miserable,
he yells out,
this is the worst day of my life!
And I'm sitting there listening to him
and I'm like,
I wish I could say that.
But I'm an adult.
I can't say things like that.
I just have to say,
don't worry, it's going to get better.
And we see my dad
and then we fly to Dallas
and we see Christina's dad
and then I fly back on Thursday
and I get back here on Saturday
going through London and Hong Kong
and if you want to go to the States,
never go through London
because it's just, it's not good.
And I come back in
and well, London's okay
and the weather's terrible.
And I have this massive sore throat
and the staff wouldn't let me talk last Sunday
because they realized that I was doped up
just as I'm doped up now
and they were worried about
what I was going to ramble on
just as I'm rambling on now.
But I realized in the journey
that there are certain questions
that get asked a lot.
When you have four kids,
they ask questions like,
when are we going to eat next?
And how long till the next place?
And in this time,
I realized how bad of a husband
and a dad I was.
I really struggle as a dad,
especially answering questions
because the one that gets me
is when they ask the same question
over and over and over
and over and over again,
like in a span of like two nanoseconds, right?
And it's almost as if
they don't hear your response,
but they keep asking that question
and my kids kept asking that question
and the question was always,
when is this going to end?
When is this going to end?
Which I started asking myself also,
when is this going to end?
And as I traveled,
I listened and talked to my kids
and friends on this journey
and I realized
kind of what I shared last week,
that people talk about
a lot of different things
depends on what country they're in.
But for the most part,
the questions we ask on the journey
are pretty much the same.
As a pastor,
I get asked the questions
and not necessarily in order,
but the questions normally are this,
should I date him or her?
They're really cute.
What do you think?
The question is,
should I tithe?
Does God really need my money?
And should I tithe on my net
or my gross?
The question is,
is this the end times?
Is this what was foretold in Scripture?
Is Jesus going to come back soon?
Is Obama the Antichrist?
And I'm so confused,
I thought Bill Clinton was Antichrist.
Antichrist.
And before that,
people were assuring me
that Ronald Reagan was the Antichrist
because his whole name
has six letters,
six middle letters,
six middle,
six, six, six.
And so I just thought
Ronald Reagan was the Antichrist.
But in the midst
of the conversations with people,
people are asking these questions
because they look at the world around them,
they look at their world,
and they see things that aren't good.
They see darkness,
they see confusion,
they see lack of clarity.
They not only see the darkness,
but they feel the darkness.
Do you feel the darkness?
darkness?
When you look around
and you see what's going on
in the world,
when you listen to stories
about what's going on
in movie theaters,
when you listen to stories
about people being abandoned
or maybe you're being abandoned,
or even when you look at your heart,
and you wonder why you think
certain thoughts,
is there darkness there?
It's interesting in the end times
as I was talking to people,
there's usually two camps,
at least in the people I run into.
There's the one camp
that they're spending all their time
thinking and wanting to know
when.
When is this going to happen?
When is Jesus coming back again?
I need to know when.
I actually had someone present to me
about three weeks ago
this whole chart,
and it was amazing.
They had this three-by,
I mean,
it was like a bulletin board,
and they basically took history
and peoples and names,
and in this whole history,
they went up to the point of
this is when the world
is going to end,
and this is how it's going to happen,
and this is who the Antichrist is.
And I just looked at that
and I go,
wow,
that's an amazing piece of energy
towards that.
I don't know,
I'm pretty sure
that that's not correct,
but whoever put that together,
that's amazing.
And so you have one side of people
who are like that.
They're struggling with
trying to figure out
when is this going to happen?
When is the end times?
When should I sell my Apple shares
and enjoy whatever I can
until that end time comes?
And then what I saw,
you should,
no one laughed,
but that is a joke.
Never sell your Apple shares,
they're good forever.
Never.
And then you have some people
who kind of basically say,
I don't really care.
In fact,
I hope that there's never
the end time
because I'm having
too much fun here
in life,
it's just too good.
Jesus is on a journey.
He's on a journey to Jerusalem,
and when you hear that,
you always think
the end,
his crucifixion.
And in this journey
in chapter 12,
he's talking to his disciples
and he's giving them a lesson
and we're told in the scripture
in Luke 12
that there are over 10,000 people
following Jesus.
It's like a rock concert.
And they're all gathered towards him
because they know
that he's going to Jerusalem
and they know that something big
is going to happen.
And in Luke 12,
he pulls his disciples aside
and he talks to them
about things they need
to be careful of,
things they need to worry about,
things they need
to keep their eyes out for.
He talks to them
about hypocrisy.
He talks to them
about wearing masks
and being different
in one place or another
and not allowing people
to see your true heart
or who you are.
To depend on
what your appearance is
as opposed to
depending on truth.
He talks to them
about coveting
and how that's,
Paul says,
that that's his greatest
downfall,
that coveting
and wanting things
that other people have,
when you see what they have,
you want it
and so you desire it
and you make it an idol,
you make it a God
and Jesus realizes
that us,
his children,
are going to have
a problem with that
and so he talks about that
over and over
and over again
because we're walking
in the darkness
and in the darkness
sometimes we cling
for things
and they look really good
but when we hold them
up to our face
because our lamp
has blown out,
we can't see them
clearly
and so that we cling
to those things
and eventually we realize
that those things,
those idols,
cannot sustain
the weight of our soul.
They're empty,
they're hollow.
Jesus goes on
in his journey
and he talks to them
about fear
and worry
and in verses 22
and 34
he tells them
not to worry
and to be careful
because he's in control
and there's nothing
you need to fear
because God
is in control
and everything
is in his hands.
Your job,
your cancer,
your family,
your children,
as you walk
with the Lord
he is big enough
to hold all those things
and the scripture says
he holds all of those things
tightly
and he takes care of them
and Jesus
reminds his disciples
and he reminds you
and me
that we don't
need to be fearful
of those things
and then we get
to this amazing
chapter
in verses 35
through 48
and Jesus begins
to talk about
the end time.
It's the question
that everybody
is talking about
because they know
they're going to Jerusalem,
they know something
that massive
is going to happen
and they want to know
when his kingdom
is going to come again.
This is the first
major teaching
of Christ
on this.
Now there are
280 chapters
in the New Testament
but 318 times
they talk about
Jesus' second coming.
So that means
one out of every
25 verses
in your New Testament
talk about
Christ's return.
Talk about him
coming to earth.
Talk about him
penetrating the darkness
and grabbing you
and I
as his children
and taking us home.
And so it's really important.
And he wants his disciples
to be aware of that
and not to lose focus
because he realizes
that as you and I
and they
go on this journey
we're going to be tempted
to lose focus.
He realizes
that as we go
on this journey
we're entering
into these dark areas
these dark times.
we have darkness
sometimes in ourselves
and in the darkness
we lose focus
of God.
And he writes
this scripture
to his disciples
and you and I
and over and over
and over again
and he says
be careful.
You're going to walk
in darkness
be careful.
There's distractions
be careful.
There are going to be
things that look
so good to you
in the darkness
but when you hold
them up to the light
they're not real.
Be careful.
You're going to walk
through life
and you're going to hear
these voices
talk about you.
Man you really screwed up.
I cannot believe
you did that.
How can you be
a child of God
and make those mistakes?
Man you might as well
just give it up.
It's not worth it.
You've tried everything
you can
but you're not getting anywhere.
Your boss is a jerk.
You're never going to succeed.
You're doing all
the righteous things
but you might as well
just give up
because it's not worth it.
It's too hard.
It's too difficult.
Give up.
And Jesus says
be careful of those voices
because those voices
that speak to you
in the darkness
are not real.
They're not truthful.
They're not of me.
Be careful.
And so he goes
in this passage
and he lays out
a story
of a party
and a master
and slaves
and he gives
two to three parables
of what happens
as they go
on their journey
and as they serve
the master
and what happens
in the middle
of that journey
and he tries
to teach us
what it means.
And when I look
at this passage
there are two things
that stick out to me.
The first thing
is how.
How am I supposed
to act?
What am I supposed
to do?
How am I supposed
to live in this
in-between time
that we keep talking about?
How am I supposed
to live in the darkness
when I can't see clearly
when my light
has gone out?
How am I supposed
to do that?
And why?
Why am I supposed
to do that?
I mean what's really
the big deal?
Because God is
he's good.
He's gracious.
He's like Santa Claus.
Everything's always
going to be turned around.
In the end
everybody wins
with God, right?
And so Jesus
lays out this argument
in Luke.
How and why?
And I want to really
look at it
and as I've been
on cough syrup
and all these things
I've got to this point
where I'm trying
to figure out
how do I do this?
What does this look like?
Because we've talked
about this over again.
So I want to talk
about the ending first.
The why.
Now you might remind me
later and say
you should have started
with the how
but I want to talk
about the why
and the why
is found in verses
45 through 49
verses 37
and I'm just going
to read them
really quickly
and we're going
to talk about them.
Why do we care?
Why do we worry?
Why should we do
these things?
Well let me just read it.
Be dressed in readiness
and keep your lamps lit.
Be like a man
who are waiting
for their master
when he returns
from the wedding feast
so they may immediately
open the door
to him
and when he comes
and knocks.
Blessed are those slaves
when the master
finds alert
when he comes.
Truly I say to you
that he will gird himself.
The master will gird himself
as a slave
have the slaves
recline at the table
and he'll come up
and wait on them.
Whoever he comes
in the second watch
or the third watch
and he finds them
though blessed
are these slaves.
But be sure of this.
If the head of the house
had known what hour
the thief was coming
he would not have allowed
the house to be broken in.
You too be ready
for the son of man
is coming at an hour
that you do not expect.
Verse 45
But if the slave says
in his heart
his inner self
in Greek
my master
will be a long time
in coming
and he begins
to beat the slaves
both men
and women
and to eat
and to drink
and to get drunk.
When you look at the why
there's actually
two whys.
There's a negative why
and there's a positive why.
And what this passage
says to you and I
as children of God
and I've shared it before
that God is a venture capitalist
and he's given
a lot of money
and resources
and talents
and giftings
in relationships
to you.
And one day
the venture capitalist
is going to come back
and he's going to look
at the return
on your life.
And this passage
says
that there either
is going to be
a positive response
to that return
or a negative response
to that return.
The negative response
says
the slave says
in his heart
my master
will be a long time
in coming
and he begins
to eat
beat the slaves
both men and women
and to eat
and drink
and get drunk.
The master
of that slave
will come
on a day
when he does not
expect him.
It's basically
saying in Greek
that the slave
took the resources
that the master
gave him
and the slave
used the resources
on himself.
the master
gave him
all these talents
this time
this money
all these things
that he could have
done amazing things
in God's kingdom.
And the slave goes
yeah
I know that this
isn't really mine
but
by the time
the master
comes back
I'm going to be
long dead.
Or by the time
the master
comes back
he's going to
forget about
all these things.
Or you know
the master
might not
ever
come back.
So maybe
I should just
do what
I want
with
my stuff
and take
care of
myself.
So the slave
begins to get
drunk
and he beats
the men
and women
in Greek
he's basically
saying he's
misusing resources.
The master
of that slave
comes on a day
when he does not
expect him
in an hour
he does not
know
and he will
cut him
in pieces.
Very very
strong language.
I mean
some of the
strongest languages
you could say
it basically
means he
hews him
in two.
Everyone
that heard
this would
have gone
back to
Abraham's
covenant
with God
and in
that covenant
God placed
these animals
and separated
them in two
pieces
and Abraham
walked through
those pieces
and God
said whoever
breaks this
covenant
this is what
will happen
to them.
And so the
minute the
listeners heard
Jesus speaking
his disciples
they would have
known wow
this is not
good.
So the
master comes
and he
separates the
slave into
two places
and he puts
them into the
place of the
unbelievers.
And that
slave who knew
his master's
will and did
not get ready
or act in
accord with
his will
he will
receive
many
lashes.
He goes
on and he
says if
the slave
or the
owner of
the house
knew what
time the
thief were
going to
break in
he would
not have
allowed it
to happen.
The negative
is that we
all have a
responsibility
as God's
children.
We've all
been giving
resources.
We've all
been giving
time and
talent.
And one
day the
master is
going to
return again.
Do you
believe that?
If I
were to
ask you
or say
Jesus
could come
this week
or Jesus
could come
today
what would
you think?
How would
you react?
Let's say
you go home
tonight and
you're watching
TV and all
of a sudden
there's a
knock at
your door.
And your
wife or
your friends
or your
kid opens
the door
and they
come back
and you
go who
was it?
And he
goes Jesus.
What?
Yeah he
wants to
come into
the house.
What would
you do?
I mean
how would
you react
if God
wants to
come into
your house
and to
visit with
you?
Would
there be
things you
would say
okay wait
wait
I got
this cleaned
up for a
minute.
Wait one
second.
There's
some areas
here I
need to
clean up
really quickly
before this
happens because
I don't
want him to
see these
things.
Or would
you say
that's
great.
Come on
in.
Jesus
tells his
disciples he
tells us
that in
the end
the master
returns
and each
one of us
are held
accountable
for what
we have.
The negative
the hard
one the
one you
won't want
to talk
about as a
pastor because
you want
people walking
away going
oh man.
But we
need to
talk about
that.
Then there's
a positive
why.
And it's
found at the
very beginning.
He says
be dressed in
readiness and
keep your
lamps lit.
Be like the
men who are
waiting for
their master
when he
returns to
the wedding
feast so
that he
may immediately
open the
door to
him when
he comes
and knocks.
Blessed.
It means
this incredible
feeling and
position of
honor and
blessing put
upon them.
It doesn't
just mean it
happens right
when the
master comes
home but it
means they
are blessed.
They have
been watching.
They have
been waiting.
They know
that he
could come
home anytime
and they
have been
there.
Blessed are
those slaves
whom the
master will
find on the
alert when he
comes.
Truly I say
to you that he
will gird
himself to
serve them and
have them
recline at the
table and
will come home
and wait on
them.
whether he
comes in
the second
hour or
the third
and finds
him so
blessed are
those slaves.
The story
is this.
There's this
banquet and
the master
has gone off
to this
banquet and
Jewish banquets
last anywhere
from one day
to one week.
And so the
slaves know
they have no
idea when the
master is going
to come.
They have no
idea.
I mean he
could come in
one day or
he could come
a week later.
And the
passage says
the faithful
slaves, the
faithful servants
are always
ready.
They're always
watching.
They're always
thinking and
doing.
And then one
day, and this
is a very
interesting passage
because if you
read this to a
Jewish person
today, they
would have a
lot of questions
about this.
One of these
is basically
the word
waiting doesn't
really mean
waiting.
It means
expecting.
I mean waiting
means I'm just
going to wait.
Okay, when is
this going to
happen?
It's like you're
waiting for your
wife to finish
shopping or you're
waiting for your
husband to turn
off the TV or
find the remote.
It's like I just
don't know if this
is ever going to
happen.
Maybe it will
happen, maybe it
won't happen.
But expecting is
like being in the
movie theater and
you see the
beginning of the
movie start.
you're really
excited about this
movie and you
know that what's
going to happen is
going to be
amazing.
And he's saying
that the faithful
slaves, the faithful
servants are those
who are expecting
the master to
return.
Because they know
that when he
returns something
amazing is going
to happen.
And something
amazing happens
because when Jesus'
followers heard this
they couldn't
understand it.
because it says
the party is
happening, they're
in the house
waiting, and the
master slips out of
the party and he
goes to his home.
And it's very
unusual because
usually you never
knock.
If you knock on a
door it means you're
a stranger.
Usually the master
would just speak and
the door would open.
But here he knocks,
he's testing them, he's
trying to see are
they ready, what's
going on, are they
ready for me to
come?
He knocks, he sees
them all ready.
And the passage
says that when he
does that he brings
them into the
dining room, he
sits all the slaves
down, he takes his
clothes off, and he
girds himself with a
loincloth, and he
kneels down and he
serves every person
at that table.
Now when Jesus'
followers heard this
they couldn't
understand it.
Because a master
would never serve a
slave.
But what Jesus is
telling you and I
is that one day
when he comes back
and he sees how you
have faithfully
served, how you
were expecting him,
how you're ready, how
you're using your
gifts and your
talents, that one day
there's going to be
this huge banquet.
And Jesus is going to
sit you down.
And he's going to say,
you know, I knew that
you struggled with
this.
I knew that you
found it so hard to be
salt and white in the
office.
I knew that it was so
difficult for you to
walk with the ward as
your husband or your
wife didn't do it.
I knew that you
struggled with keeping
the accounting books
right and correct
because you had so much
pressure with you.
I knew that things
were always piled up
against you at your
school.
You were the only
teacher who professed
faith and you tried to
be salt and light and
you always faced a
struggle.
I knew that in your
bank that there were
very few people who
thought similar to you
and when you talked
about starting a prayer
meeting or reading the
word, people laughed at
you and pushed you
aside.
But you persevered.
You expected me.
You trusted me.
And now because of
that I want to pour out
my blessings upon you.
Do you know that each
one of us right now
we're living for
rewards?
Do you know that?
I mean sometimes we
feel uncomfortable
talking about it because
we feel like all pride
and arrogance but we
all are living towards
a reward and that
reward is salvation in
Jesus Christ.
But he says also as we
live out our life we're
living towards rewards
of faithfulness.
And one day the
master is going to come
back and he's going to
look at all the hard and
difficult things you've
done in your life.
All the things that
made no sense.
All the unreasonable
things.
All the things that you
were the only one and
you stood in there and
you honored him and you
walked with him and he's
going to go well done.
Well done my good and
faithful servant.
I'm so proud of you.
I'm so amazed by what
you've done here.
Here let me give you some
more things.
Let me give you some more
responsibilities.
Let me give you some more
blessings.
I knew that it was so hard
when you do that but here
is why you did it.
And here is what makes it
all worthwhile.
All worthwhile.
Do you believe that?
Sometimes it's hard.
Sometimes it's hard as we
walk in the darkness.
Sometimes it's hard when
people laugh at us.
Sometimes it's hard because
even in my own mind it makes
no sense whatsoever
sometimes.
But Jesus said that's why.
That's why I want you to be
faithful.
So we know the why.
The why is we're going to be
judged.
The question is Jesus is
going to come back and
either he's going to be your
savior or he's going to be
your judge.
There's only two options.
He's not a good dude.
He's not a fun guy.
When he comes back he's
either going to be your
savior or he's going to be
your judge.
And he's coming back.
Now again I struggle with
that.
Sometimes I just wonder how
long, how long.
Everybody's been talking
about that for 2,000 years.
His disciples were talking
about that for 2,000 years.
When is it?
I don't know.
But I know that it's sooner
than it was yesterday.
And some of us might not see
him return.
But some of us are going to
see him face to face when
we meet him when we die.
We all meet eternity.
We all meet Christ.
We all are going to be held
accountable for all the
resources he's given us and
what we do with those things.
On the Wednesday that I left,
I was leaving on Thursday,
one of my closest friends came
with his family to the lake
house.
My Christian's parents have a
house.
And we were hanging out there
and in the middle of our time
he got this phone call.
And his kids are four of them
playing with my four kids.
And he said, I got to leave.
I go, why?
Why?
Because my dad just died.
I said, did you expect that?
No.
Came out of a total surprise.
Had no idea.
His health was perfect.
He was in great shape.
He just, we just got the call.
He just passed away.
He died.
And so we packed them up in
their car and we sent them
back to Austin, Texas.
And I was praying for them.
The funeral was going to be on
the following Monday.
And I was trying to decide,
should I stay and do the
funeral?
Or what should I do?
My kids are getting, what do
I do with all these things?
Saturday, Paul calls me up.
He said, I mean, how do you,
I usually say, how you doing?
But how do you, you don't want
to say how you doing after
your dad's died, right?
I mean, you're like, you're
like, what's happening?
What's going on?
I mean, that's clearly what
I sounded like.
And he goes, I got really bad
news.
I'm like, okay, what's worse?
Your dad just died.
He goes, well, Friday night,
we took my mom out to eat.
Saturday morning, she woke up.
She died.
So on Wednesday, his dad dies.
And on Saturday, his mom dies.
And he calls the church up
really quickly and says,
can we change the funeral
from a single funeral
to a double funeral?
And I looked at Paul
and I cried with him.
And I said, you never know
when we're going to meet Christ.
The passage says that we'll
either meet him when he comes
again, or we'll meet him
when he opens our eyes.
The why.
Because he's coming.
And he wants us to be faithful.
The how.
How are we supposed to act?
Because if you hear a talk like this,
I'm a doer.
I want to know what do I do?
How do I do these things?
What should I do?
Tell me everything you need to do.
Give me a list here.
But scripture never talks about list.
It talks about relationships.
It talks about walking with God.
In verse 35,
I think it's the answer to the
how.
How are we to live?
Jesus talks to his disciples
and he said,
but be dressed in readiness
and keep your lamps lit.
This idea dressed
is a word that actually means girded.
So in Jewish time,
in Jesus' time,
they wore these long robes.
And often they would wear them
without a belt
because it was just so hot
and you wanted it to be
as loose as possible.
But when you had to do work,
when you had to do
some kind of movement,
when you had to run,
when you had to fight and battle,
you put a belt on.
And after you put your belt on,
you reach down
and you grab the end of your robes
and you pull them up
and you stuck them
in your belt.
And if you ever saw somebody
walking around
with the end of their robes
pulled up
and stuck in their belt,
you knew that they had been working
or running
or doing some kind
of strenuous exercise.
And Jesus says to his disciples,
as you walk on the journey,
as you prepare for eternity,
as you prepare for my return,
dress yourself
in readiness.
The Greek there actually means
to be girded,
to arm yourself for action,
to be continually active,
to be continually doing.
And so what he's telling us here
as we are on the journey,
that it's not a journey
about waiting.
That it's not a journey about,
well, I want to figure out
when he comes
so I can know the exact time
and so everything
will be in place.
Every time I think of that story,
I think of Joe Littlepage.
Joe Littlepage was a junior
above me in high school.
And when we started school,
Joe,
so he's one year above me,
he had this vision
that this year,
Jesus is going to come back.
And so for the whole year,
he didn't do any work.
Didn't do his homework.
I mean, he came to class.
The teacher says,
where's your homework, Joe?
He goes, well,
Jesus is going to come back.
It doesn't make any difference.
And at the end of the semester,
you know what happened to Joe?
He failed.
He failed school
because he didn't do any work
because he felt like
when Jesus comes,
all we do is we wait.
And when he waits,
then everything's going to be okay.
But the passage here says
just the opposite.
What Jesus is telling his disciples
is he says,
blessed is he who girds himself.
Blessed is he who works.
It's not passive.
Blessed is he who is ready.
Are you ready?
Are you ready today?
If Jesus were to come back,
are you ready for him to come back?
What would it look like?
For me, again,
I struggle with that sometimes.
Sometimes I go through life
and I just forget certain things.
I forget that Jesus is God
and I'm not.
I forget that he's in control
of all things.
Sometimes I forget
that I'm a servant.
I want to be a master.
I want to be in control.
I want people to listen to me.
I want people to obey me.
I want to do things.
Sometimes I forget
that he's actually
coming back again.
But the passage here,
Jesus says,
be dressed in readiness.
If you're a banker,
don't quit your banking.
Be the best banker you can.
Serve the Lord.
Walk with God.
Be righteous
and humble
and gentle
in your dressing yourself
in readiness.
If you're a teacher
and you know that Jesus
is coming next week,
don't quit teaching.
You're going to have
a reach and output
to people and students
that no one's ever
going to have a talk to.
Be faithful.
Be gentle.
Love your students well.
Care for them.
I don't know
what other professions are,
but what this passage
is saying is
don't stop
doing
what you're doing
because God has you
where you are
for a very specific
purpose and reason.
And what he wants you to do
is just be faithful.
Trust him.
Walk with him.
Allow him to work
in your life.
Does that make sense?
He's not saying
when I read this
and I go,
I gotta do this,
and if I don't do this,
God's not gonna be happy.
You know,
whatever you do,
if you're a child of God,
you're not gonna make God
any more or less happier
than he is right now
because this talk
isn't about salvation.
This passage is about
after you've become
a Christian,
this is what your life
looks like.
This is who you are.
This is what you do.
The Christian life
is actually a lot
about doing,
about being ready
and walking
in faithfulness.
And finally,
how or what
are we to look like?
He says these words
and I think these,
I've been thinking
about these a lot
these last couple weeks
and he says,
keep your lamps lit.
In Greek,
the word is
continually keep.
It actually means
to be faithful,
to keep a promise,
to act fittingly,
to keep your lamps lit.
Last night,
I took some codeine
before I went to bed
for my cold
and then when I woke up,
I looked into the darkness
and I saw figures
dancing around my room.
Just, you know,
it was just the drugs
on me, right?
And I realized
that sometimes
in the darkness,
our imagination
can get the best of us.
Sometimes when we walk
in darkness
and our lamp
isn't lit
with God's truth
and who we are,
we grab at things
that seem real
and true
in life,
but they're not.
Now the lamp,
I almost brought my lamp.
Someone gave me a lamp
from Jesus' day.
It's about that big.
And the lamps
weren't really meant
for you to walk
so you could see your feet
because it wasn't
that powerful really.
And you really knew
where you were going
in your house
and in your city
and in your village.
You knew where
all the steps were.
But the Hebrew historian
said the lamp
was held like this
so that as you walked,
people could see your face
and they would know
who's coming.
It's more of identification
so you could know
who was coming
and you could be aware
of what's going to happen.
And he's saying here
for you and I
that we need to keep
our lamps lit.
We need to understand
who we are.
We need to understand
what God's word says
about us.
And sometimes
if we start to believe
lies and falsehood,
we walk in darkness
and we stumble
and we grab onto things
that we think
are going to give us life,
but they end up
destroying our world.
And so Jesus warns
his disciples and us,
you know how to please
the Lord?
Just walk with him.
Trust him.
Be faithful.
Repent
because you're going to sin
if you're like me,
you're going to sin a lot.
So repent a lot.
Ask for forgiveness.
And remember
who you are
and who is in control
of your life.
And walk with that lamp
in your face,
the lamp of God's word
and his truth.
And don't allow
the darkness
to come in.
How do we walk?
We walk in faithfulness
and truth
by girding ourselves
up and being faithful
with the truth
that's been given us
as we walk ahead.
Why do we walk?
Because one day
Jesus,
our master,
our incredible Lord
is going to come back
and he's going to judge us
and reward us.
To me,
this passage is amazing
because I know
if you're like me,
sometimes you're doing things
and it's just,
you wonder,
why am I doing this?
And God says,
you're doing this
because one day
I'm going to come before you
and I'm going to bless you
and you're going to honor me
as you be faithful.
Now I realize
even as I share this,
there are some people
in here right now
who don't have a relationship
with Jesus Christ.
I don't know what master
you're serving.
I don't know what you expect
when the master
comes home.
My hope is,
my prayer is,
if you're here,
someone brought you here,
that you would start
to talk to them
and ask them about their faith
with Jesus Christ.
You would start to talk to them
and ask them about
what it means to walk with God.
You would start to talk to them
and engage with them
about what it means
to walk in faith
and why Jesus is the good master.
And my prayer for you
is that you would not
finish this week
without a realization
that there's a God
who loves you,
He cares for you,
He's given everything for you,
He's wooing you
and inviting you back
on the journey with Him,
and He's waiting for you
to open the door
in your life
and allow that to happen.
I realize even as I share this,
there's some of us here
right now
who said,
I've become a Christian.
I put my faith in Jesus Christ
when I was 10 years old,
I got baptized,
I did all these things,
I got it all going on.
But when we look at the passage,
we realize that there are
certain things that are true
of God's people
as we walk with Him.
The Bible says
that it's true
that as we walk with Christ
and we become more like Him
that we serve other people.
We think of others more
and we think of ourselves less.
The Bible says
that as we walk with Christ
that we walk in readiness.
We have an expectation
that Christ is going to return
and that when He returns
it's going to be amazing
and glorious.
The Bible says
as God's children
that we use
our money
in our resources
for His kingdom.
and not for our kingdom.
The Bible says
as we walk with God
and we become more like Christ
that we share
this journey
with other people
because we want them
to have the good master
that we have
and we don't want them
to end up getting beaten.
And the Scripture says
that as we walk with Christ
and we are His children
that we become more humble
that we walk in humility
that we walk in love
that we walk in gentleness
because we realize
that we're not the master
and that the master is good
and He's coming back for us.
And I realize
that there are some of us here
like this story
that if Christ were to come back today
and He were to examine our lives
we'd be in trouble.
My prayer is
that we would take this time
to come before Him
to ask for His forgiveness
and allow His Spirit
to change us
and to make us
into the people
that He wants us to be.
The amazing thing
about the Bible
is that it says
that wrath
and punishment
is not God's
primary response
to His children.
What the Bible says
is God's primary response
to His children
is love,
grace,
compassion,
and gentleness.
My prayer for us
as a church
is that we would realize that
as we go on this journey
with Him.
Father,
we just thank You
for this day.
We thank You
for Your goodness.
We thank You
for Your Word.
We thank You
for Your message
that changes us.
I pray for each one
of us in here.
I pray for our hearts
and our minds.
I realize
that some of us
haven't even begun
the journey with You.
And I pray, Lord,
that You would open
our eyes,
their eyes and ears
to Your Son,
Jesus Christ,
and that we would
fall more in love
with Him.
Lord, I realize,
especially in my own life,
that there are times
I let the candle go out.
I stumble around
in the darkness
of thoughts
and words
and imagination
in my mind,
and I think,
well, this will make me happy.
This will be truth.
This is good.
And Your Word
just says,
I'm stumbling
in the darkness.
I'm clinging
to idols
and things
that will leave me
empty
and hurt
and beaten.
So, Lord,
I come before You
and I just confess that.
I repent
of that sin
of arrogance
and pride,
the sin
of wanting
to be God
instead of following God.
and I pray
for each one of us
in this church,
Your church,
that You would show us
more and more
what it looks like
to follow You
and be called
faithful
and good
and ready
and gentle.
And, Lord,
in between time,
we walk in this darkness
all around us
when it seems like
things are totally
out of control
and we're in despair
in our homes
and in our work.
and on the streets
and fear
seems to rule
everything.
We cling to Your Son
who gives the message,
hold on,
hold on
because I'm there
and I'm coming again.
When the time is right,
I'll be there.
May we be found
faithful, Lord,
when You do that.
Lord, we love You.
We pray all these things
in Your Son,
Jesus' name.
Amen.