Luke chapter number 12. It's good to be in the Lord's house today. I appreciate Brother Jared.
Some things moved around on the singing schedule, and it kind of worked out perfectly with our message today.
You found your place there in Luke chapter number 12. You can stand for the reading of God's word if you're able to.
We're going to step out of our Luke series for the next few weeks, so this will be our last time in there.
We're coming into Palm Sunday next week, and then Easter, and then after Easter, we're kind of looking at a little different view from there.
And I'm excited about that, excited about Easter Sunday. Hope that you're preparing for it, inviting somebody.
Planning on being here in the Lord's house, but we're here today in our series in the Gospel of Luke.
And these are some tough verses and just some truths that we're wrestling with here.
And I talked to Brother Garrett about it and trying to get his opinion on it.
But I'm thankful that we're going to work through it together, and the Lord has something for us, I know.
So you found your place there in Luke chapter 12. We're going to begin reading in verse 35 where the Bible says this.
Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning.
And ye yourselves liken to 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.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
Verily I say unto you that he, the master, shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet,
and will come forth and serve them.
And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, so come in the evening or come in the middle of the night,
and find them so, blessed are those servants.
And this know that if the good men of the house had known what hour the thief would come,
he would have watched and not suffered his house to be broken through.
Be ye, verse 40, excuse me, be ye therefore ready also.
For the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us or even to all?
And the Lord said unto him,
Who then is the faithful and wise steward,
whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household,
to give him their portion of meat in due season?
Blessed is the servant whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
But and if the servant saith in his heart,
My Lord delayeth his coming,
and shall begin to beat the men servants and maid servants,
and to eat and drink and to be drunken,
the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him,
at an hour when he is not aware,
and will cut him in sunder,
and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
And that servant which knew the Lord's will,
and prepared not himself,
neither did according to his will,
shall be beaten with many stripes.
But he that knew not,
and did not commit things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes,
for unto whomsoever much is given,
of him shall much be required,
and to whom men have committed much,
of him they will ask the more.
Brother Jared just sang a song,
at the midnight cry,
we'll be going home.
But that's only if you're ready.
And really what Jesus is calling us to,
here in Luke 12,
is to be ready.
Because it's going to happen.
And we're going to get into this,
but people say,
well,
when's he coming?
It's been 2,000 years.
He's coming.
It says it over,
and over,
and over.
And maybe it's not like waiting to buy your tickets for the last day.
Free announcement right there.
We can't wait and say,
oh,
I have time.
Here's what Jesus says.
Be ready.
We don't need to get ready someday.
We need to be ready today.
And that's what we're going to look at here this morning.
Let's ask the Lord to bless our time.
Father,
thank you for your word,
and thank you that we can open it.
Thank you we have our own copies.
That we can dig in,
and we can see what you have for us.
But Lord,
we ask now,
that as we come here as a church family,
that you would just quiet our hearts,
and our minds,
and the busyness of life,
and the world around us.
And Lord,
I pray that you would just take this text,
Lord,
and you would use it to remind us,
and really to check inventory of our life,
to make sure that we're ready.
Lord,
when you come again,
I want to be ready.
I want to see you face to face,
and to know that I've done everything I can to serve you.
Lord,
maybe there is somebody here today,
that maybe knew the songs we sang,
and knows some of the verses here in the word of God,
but has never made it a personal decision,
for you to be their Lord and Savior.
Lord,
I pray that today would be that day.
Lord,
I pray you would be with me now.
You would just guide my thoughts,
and my words.
You would clear my mind.
Lord,
we ask all this in your son's precious name.
Amen.
Thank you so much for standing.
You may be seated.
Who checked the weather app,
before you came to church this morning?
A few of you did.
How many check the weather app,
every single day?
Some of you just,
man,
some of you are just living life on the edge.
I mean,
that's like one of the first things I do,
you know,
and I remember checking last week,
and I thought,
wait,
it's going to be 20 on Monday,
and it's going to be 120 on Sunday.
What is going on here?
And some of you might have,
somebody in the family uses a different weather app.
We got competing weather apps in the family,
and we're like,
what weather app are you using?
I mean,
one of them will say,
you know,
it's going to be sunny all day,
and another says scattered thunderstorms.
So we're not sure to wear a jacket,
or to bring sunscreen.
We're not really sure what's going on there,
and I love weather forecasters.
I wish I had their job.
I mean,
they're never right,
and they still have a job.
I mean,
because when they say,
it's not going to drop an ounce,
I mean,
we're going to get stuck in a monsoon out here,
and vice versa,
when there's 90% chance of rain,
not a drop falls.
I think we had a week like that a couple weeks ago.
They say,
it's going to rain every single day.
It didn't rain any days at all,
and it's just kind of what it is.
But it's not just the forecast,
the weather forecast that we check.
There's all kinds of forecasts we check.
Maybe it's the economic forecast.
I try not to check that,
because that's bleak.
You know,
it just feels like,
ah,
this is bad.
The country's in worse shape than I'm in.
Maybe it's the future of the country,
the news.
I mean,
we look at what's happening on the world stage,
and we're trying to kind of figure out,
what's going on,
and how's this going to affect me,
and you know,
we're feeling the pinch at the pump,
so to speak,
and of all these things,
and we're trying to say,
when's this forecast going to change?
And if you read the news,
or watch it long enough,
you're going to hear things like this.
These are unprecedented times.
It's uncertain.
The future is unpredictable.
We think and say things like this.
I've never seen it this bad.
Well,
come to find out,
if you study history,
every generation has said this very same thing.
In fact,
this world's not going to get better.
The Bible makes it clear,
that it's going to wax worse and worse,
until the day that Christ comes,
and yet,
in the middle of all the uncertainty,
in the middle of the competing,
and differing forecast,
Jesus reminds us,
that we have something in the world,
doesn't have,
and we know Him as Savior.
That not only do we have a Savior,
who knows the future,
here's the best part,
He holds the future in His hand.
That nothing is going to happen,
without His say so.
And when it comes to the return of Jesus Christ,
I just want to remind us,
before we kind of jump into the text here,
that we're not dealing with some minor doctrine,
found in Scripture.
This is not some side issue,
that really weird people get lost in the weeds,
in the book of Revelation,
and write really weird books about.
Because they do.
I don't know if you know this,
but there was a book written,
88 Reasons Why Jesus Is Coming in 1988.
Anybody ever heard of that book?
He didn't come in 1988.
But we get all weirded out about it,
and we're so worried about all of these things,
and when we think of the second coming of Christ,
it's not calling us to predict it.
Nobody knows when that's going to happen.
The Father knows,
He's going to tell His Son,
to go get the children.
We know that,
but the idea,
every time we see the second coming is this,
be ready.
It's coming.
I remember when,
I got old enough,
when my parents would go run an errand,
or go to dinner,
they would leave me at home.
And I'd say,
what time,
what time do you think you're going to be home?
Not because I cared about their safety.
Not because I cared about what they were doing.
I just want to know,
how late can I wait,
to start picking up the absolute disaster,
that I made?
Anybody else ever operated that way?
Okay.
That's how it is.
But that's not how we're supposed to live as believers.
That's really not how anybody's supposed to live.
And the point of this is,
is Jesus is addressing a crowd,
and there were believers there,
there were unbelievers,
and the theme is the same,
be ready for it.
And this theme of the second coming is,
in 260 chapters in the New Testament,
there are over 300 references,
to the second coming of Christ.
When you kind of parse it out,
it's about one in every 25 verses,
in the New Testament,
speak of this.
So the return of Christ is,
it's not just a possibility,
it's a certainty.
And that's how it is portrayed,
and that is how it is given,
in the New Testament.
As we've kind of made our way,
here in the Gospel of Luke,
and especially chapter 12,
we kind of see this natural progression.
That Jesus is teaching about,
living our life,
not just for the here and now.
A few weeks back,
we looked at a parable he gave,
about the rich fool,
who was living life for himself,
and life was good,
and the harvest was great,
in fact it was so great,
he had to tear his barns down,
and build bigger barns,
to store all of his stuff.
And it just shows us a life,
that it was lived for greed,
it wasn't looking for the future,
it wasn't planning for anything,
but the here and now.
And he said,
hey let's just eat,
drink and be merry,
because this is all life is about.
And then Jesus moved in,
kind of addressing the believers,
that many of them,
would have not had a lot of things.
Their harvest year,
wasn't maybe that great.
And because of that,
anxiousness and worry,
can begin to creep in our life.
And we can think,
well what if I don't have enough?
I'm trying to plan,
I'm trying to do this,
but Lord I have all of these things,
and he reminds us,
how much he loves us.
He reminds us that our father,
he cares for the ravens,
and he cares for the lilies,
and he knows what we need.
So instead of worrying about,
what we're going to eat,
what we're going to wear,
and where we're going to go,
here's what we need to worry about,
here's what we need to focus on,
him.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness.
And I'm kind of building off of those two stories,
and those two truths there,
he says,
here's how you should live because of that.
You should live with readiness.
And readiness for Christ's return,
here's what it does,
it's an antidote for both greed and worry.
It helps us to move past those,
if we think about it this way,
if I know he's coming,
I don't have to cling to all the things here on this earth.
I don't have to build bigger barns,
and rent more storage units,
and if I know he's coming,
I don't have to fear tomorrow.
The certainty that he's coming,
should buoy our hearts.
And here's the main idea,
that we kind of see through this text.
that being ready is not knowing,
it's not about knowing when he's coming,
but it's about living in such a way,
that it wouldn't matter if he came today.
That if we saw Christ face to face,
we could stand before him,
knowing we have lived our life,
in a way that is pleasing to him.
As children of the Father,
we are called to serve him.
So if you're taking notes here today,
here's the question we can answer through this text.
How do we live ready for Jesus' return?
He's calling us to be ready.
He said it over and over,
be ready, be ready.
If he's calling us to be ready,
what does it look like?
And Jesus gives us some clear pictures here,
of what it does.
And if we're going to live ready,
it's going to show up in certain ways.
Number one, we're going to live a prepared life.
We're going to be prepared.
Look at verse number 35.
Let your loins be girded,
and your lights burning.
And ye yourselves liken to men
that wait for their Lord
when he will return from a wedding,
that when he cometh and knocketh,
they may open unto him immediately.
Now sometimes when Jesus starts giving
kind of these illustrations
and these parables,
to us we think,
what is he talking about?
I mean, we're talking about robes
and lights and servants.
But to the crowd that was gathered,
to his disciples that were there,
they would have understood immediately
what he was saying.
These were things they would have dealt with
in their own everyday life.
And really, the idea that he's painting
right off the bat
is being ready for Jesus
is not some casual,
relaxed way of living.
No, what he's showing us
in these opening verses,
it's a picture of alertness.
It's a picture of intention.
It's a picture of readiness.
See, the idea is not just being awake.
It's being prepared for action.
Don't you love when somebody calls you
in the morning
and you answer it?
I mean, you have to say hello
like three times before you answer.
You're like, hello, hello, hello.
Because you don't want to know
you were maybe just kind of dozing.
I'm the only person
that's ever done that.
And it still doesn't work out
and they say,
preacher, did I wake you up?
Like, no.
Listen, I might be awake,
but I'm not ready to do anything.
Oh, no, I'm just getting up.
No, I'm not.
I'm just laying there.
I'm just being super lazy.
I was awake.
It really, the call didn't wake me up,
but I wasn't ready to do anything.
If it would have been
something ready to go,
I would have said,
well, I'm going to,
actually, I need to get ready.
I haven't really done that.
But see, in this culture,
Jesus was painting something
they would have understood
and he says in verse 35,
let your loins be girded about.
The idea was that
they would wear these long robes.
We talked about this
in our study in Peter
a couple weeks ago.
That the men would wear
long, flowy robes.
They would come down
to their ankles.
And the thought is this.
You couldn't do a whole lot
of activity in that kind of garb.
That didn't lend itself to work.
It didn't lend itself to action.
What they would have to do
is they would have to kind of
pull the robe up
and gird it within their belt.
So they would be able to do things.
You couldn't move freely.
You couldn't run.
You couldn't serve effectively
until you were girded.
And what Jesus is showing is
that's the kind of readiness
that he calls us to live by.
Not this passiveness.
Hey, I'm awake.
I'm here.
It's Sunday.
I'm in church.
It's not just about
doing certain things
in the Christian life.
It's about preparing for it
and being ready
and being active about it.
It's about being intentional
about the things of God.
It's a life that is positioned
to respond in a moment's notice.
You ever see when they call on the,
when a firefighter,
they get a call?
I mean, they can be playing cards,
eating, they've been sleeping,
but as soon as that call comes,
I mean, they're closed.
All their gear is ready to go
and they jump right in.
I mean, they're out of that firehouse
in no time.
Listen, that's the picture
that Jesus says,
that's how you should live.
A servant in these days,
they couldn't say,
well, I don't feel like serving today.
That wasn't an option.
That was their job.
That is who they were.
You say, well, preacher,
what does it look like
to have our loins girded about?
I think for us today,
it looks kind of like
making time with God a priority
and not an afterthought.
Sometimes we just read our Bible
when it's convenient.
Sometimes we read it
and we don't even know
that we read it.
You ever driven somewhere
and thought to yourself,
how did I get here?
You're like,
hopefully I was awake the whole time.
But sometimes that's how
we treat our relationship with God.
We're kind of on cruise control.
It's just kind of
an everyday normal thing
and we're not really
pouring into it
and being intentional.
Maybe being ready,
it's keeping short accounts
with God
when it comes to our sin.
Listen, I'm thankful
that I'm saved by grace.
I'm thankful that
all my sins are under the blood.
But here's the reality
that I still struggle with sin.
I still deal with it
on a daily basis.
I'm looking forward to a day
when I don't.
I'm looking forward to a day
when all things are made new
and all things are passed away
and sin is no more.
But until that day,
even those that know
Christ as their Savior,
we need to ask for forgiveness.
Listen, when I see the Lord
face to face,
I don't want there to be
a laundry list of things
for weeks and months
and years
that I just said,
I'll take care of that later.
That's not being ready.
That's not ready
to move into action.
I think it just means
starting each day
aware that you belong to Him.
You read the New Testament.
Almost every letter you read,
almost every book you read,
you're going to see them
introduce themselves
in some form or fashion of this.
Paul, a servant of God.
Peter, a servant of God.
Jude, a bondservant.
Listen, all of these men
that wrote the Scriptures,
all of those that serve God,
they realize this,
we're just servants.
We have a master that loves us
and we have given our life
to serve Him.
See, what Jesus is saying,
listen, you don't need to
live your spiritual life
just half-dressed.
I mean, you're kind of ready
to do something,
but you're hoping nobody calls.
You ever been there?
You're like,
I'll help them if they call,
but you're praying,
Lord, please don't let them call me.
That's not how Jesus calls us to live.
And we may,
it's not that we're saying
no to serving God,
we're just saying
right now is not a good time.
I think if we're not careful
in our minds,
we can say,
well, I didn't say no,
I just said not now.
The idea is,
I'll get serious about serving God
when I get this taken care of
and when the kids get
a little bit older
and when this happens and that.
No, no, here's what Jesus says,
be ready right now.
It's not a wait for later,
I'll deal with that sin eventually.
It's not that big a deal.
No, it is a big deal.
We're going to celebrate Easter
in a few weeks
and we have to celebrate that
because Jesus Christ
took our sin debt
on the cross of Calvary.
This sin is a big deal
and we shouldn't live
just in a habitual state of it.
No, a life that is prepared
says this,
I want to be right with God today.
I mean, we understand
in our other relationships,
whether it's your marriage relationship,
whether it's with kids,
whether it's with your boss.
Listen, when there's a short account
and things are, you know,
things are on the table,
it makes that relationship
a lot better.
There's not this overwhelming cloud
that's following.
No, we don't live,
we don't wait until a crisis comes
to get our life in order.
I think we see it
all around our world.
Listen, we don't need
to wait for that.
Listen, Jesus says,
just be ready.
Be ready.
We don't want to try
to find the Lord
when difficulties come.
No, we live in a way
where nothing needs
to be cleaned up
if he came back right now.
That's what he tells us
to keep the lights on,
to keep them burning.
They were waiting
for the Lord to return
in verse 36,
like a master
that went away
for a wedding.
Listen,
I love weddings for cake
and that's about
the only thing I like.
I'm thinking,
how long is it going
to be until the cake?
You know,
that's like,
we should reverse it
and just eat the cake first,
say congratulations,
and then leave.
You know,
we're not there
for them anyways.
But when you study
this culture,
weddings,
they didn't last
like 30 minutes
to an hour
and had some cake.
I mean,
sometimes these were
week-long processes.
I mean,
it was a giant celebration
and the whole village
would be involved
and sometimes
if you had family
in another village,
you'd have to travel to it.
And the thought here
is these servants,
their master,
went to a wedding.
He doesn't know
when he's coming back.
You know,
there's no timetable
for these type
of celebrations.
But we find
that they are ready.
They're not waiting
for him to come back.
They're ready
for him to come back.
And that's when it comes
to the second coming
of Christ.
God does not call us
to be waiting on him.
He calls us
to be ready for him.
Because when the master
came home,
they weren't asleep.
They weren't half-dressed.
They weren't kind of ready.
No,
they were ready
to open the door.
So how do we live
ready for Christ's return?
Number one,
with a prepared life.
And then number two,
we live with a forward focus.
With a forward focus.
So these men
and these servants
that would have been
waiting for him to come,
verse 37 says,
blessed are those servants
whom the Lord
when he cometh
shall find watching.
So the master,
the idea is
the master returns
late at night.
It's been a long journey.
He didn't just get in his car.
He didn't have a little car
that drives itself.
No,
this would have been
a difficult task.
It would have been
hard to get to.
And when he comes home,
the doors open immediately.
This would be awesome.
I'm going to teach my kids this.
When I walk them,
they just,
yeah,
I mean,
how cool would that be?
You ever been somewhere
where they like,
they treat you real fancy?
You think,
man,
I'm super out of place here.
But that was their job.
I mean,
he's about to step
to open the door himself
and here comes the door.
It's open.
The lights are burning.
The house is clean.
The servants are ready.
They are excited
and they are prepared
to welcome their master back.
And they ask,
how was your trip?
Did everything go well?
Was it everything
that you thought
it was going to be?
But then at the end
of verse 37,
something completely
unexpected happens.
The Bible says this,
Verily I say unto you
that he shall gird himself
and make them
to sit down to meet
and will come forth
and serve them.
So they're excited
and they're ready
for their master to return.
But when he gets home,
he says,
man,
it was a great trip
but I want you to sit down
and I'm going to cook
something for us.
I'm going to feed us.
I'm going to take care of us.
I want you just to relax.
I want you just to enjoy
the blessings
of being in my house,
of being under my care.
And when they would have heard this,
when Jesus said this,
they thought,
whoa,
that's not how this works.
I mean,
I think we can understand this
even in the 21st century.
Masters don't serve.
Servants serve.
That's how it works.
That's how it's pictured
really in different spots
of scripture.
But here's what Jesus does.
That he flips that entire picture
on its head
to show them something
much deeper.
Here's what he wants them to see.
Here's what he wants us to see.
His heart.
That's what he's showing us here.
Because the master is Jesus.
The one that is on a journey.
The one that is going to prepare
a place for us.
He's the one that is pictured here.
And he loves his servants deeply.
And his heart is towards them.
I mean,
we saw this even when he was
on this earth.
You read John chapter 13
there in the upper room
at the Lord's Supper.
The Passover.
What did Jesus do?
He gird himself.
And he got on his hands
and his knees.
And he washed their feet.
That he loves them deeply.
That his heart is towards them.
And I don't want us
to run past this.
These servants did nothing
to earn this privilege.
They weren't on some scale
as long as you serve really good
then you're going to get
really good things.
No.
Here's what it was.
It was a blessing
that was just given to them.
And everything that we have
in Christ.
And the fact that we read
those verses
at the beginning of the service
in John chapter 14.
Because he's preparing
a place for us
it has nothing to do with us.
But it has everything
to do with him.
That we have a God
that loves us.
That desires fellowship
with us.
And these servants
are not being honored
because they're perfect.
Here's why they're being honored.
Because they were faithful.
That's what God's looking for.
It's required in a steward
that he be found faithful.
That's what God is looking for.
And the simple thought here
is when we live
with a forward focus
the master, Jesus
is going to be delighted
in those that are ready
for him.
They were excited about it.
They were looking forward to it.
And it points us back
to his heart
in John 13.
But here's the one
here's the beautiful thing.
One day we're going to
sit at his table.
We're going to feast with him.
What a day that will be.
You say,
what's going to be there?
Well,
Chick-fil-A.
Texas Roadhouse Rolls.
HTO.
And Blue Bell Ice Cream.
With a little bit of coffee
to top it off on the end.
Listen, I don't know
what's going to be there.
But here's the beautiful thing.
We're going to sit around
the table with him.
That he's invited us
into the family.
Listen, we're just servants.
But he says, no,
you're not just servants.
You're my family.
That we're heirs with Christ.
That we're join heirs.
That everything that Christ
is set to inherit,
so are we.
What a beautiful thing.
I'd be excited about that.
I think we should live
a little bit like,
you know what,
I think I'm going to be ready
for that.
If you had some great person
come and say,
hey listen,
I'm going to come pick you up
and I'm going to drive you here.
I'm going to,
you're going to do all this thing
where I take you on a world tour.
You can eat whatever you want.
Say, I don't know
if I'll be ready.
I'll, I'll,
if it happens,
it happens.
You would prepare for that.
You would live
with a forward focus.
And see,
when we begin to live this way
and we,
we know the Lord
is our Savior
and we're living
not just for the here and now,
it just simply looks,
we're not living
for the weekend anymore.
We're not living
for a paycheck.
We're not living
for a vacation.
No,
here's what we're living
for,
eternity.
That's,
that's the view
that Jesus calls us
to have.
It looks like
choosing obedience
even when it's costly.
These servants,
you know what it costs them?
It costs them sleep.
It costs them all these things.
But they were willing
to be obedient.
And one day
it's going to come to pass,
listen,
you think,
well nobody down here
seems to know
that I do anything.
He does.
We're not serving
to be seen of men.
We're serving
because God has called us to.
It means investing
in people
instead of,
instead of just possessions.
These servants
weren't ready
in the middle of the night
so their neighbors
could see them.
Their neighbors are sleeping.
No,
they're ready
because that's what
was expected of them.
That's what the master
had taught them.
That's what the master
wanted them to do.
And when we live
with this forward focus,
we stop asking,
what do I get out of this?
And we start asking ourselves,
what would please him
when he returns?
That's the thought
that Jesus is teaching here.
So we live
with a prepared life.
We live with this
forward focus
but he doesn't stop there.
Jesus reminds us this,
that we need to live
with a sense
of urgency.
You ever try to get
your kids ready
in a quick time?
Like,
hey,
we got to get out of the house.
We're running late.
Isn't that how it goes?
We had a little kid
like that when we played
tee ball.
I was like,
hey,
when you come around
third base,
you got to run home
as fast as you can.
He's like,
I'm like,
all right.
But listen,
we need to be urgent
about what God
has called us to do.
Verse number 39,
the Bible says this,
and this know
that if the good man
of the house
had known
what hour the thief
would come,
he would have watched
and not suffered
his house to be broken through.
Be therefore ready also
for the Son of Man
cometh at an hour
when you think not.
So Jesus gives us
kind of a weird picture
and he starts talking
about this guy
breaking into the house.
And thieves these days
and in this time period,
they didn't,
they didn't like
break the door down.
No,
they would generally do
is these,
these homes would have been
made of mud
and different things.
They would have just
dug a hole
in the side of your house.
That's wild to me.
Can you imagine
just sleeping there
tonight at your home
and somebody just,
just comes in
like the Kool-Aid man
just coming right through
the,
right through the,
the wall.
Like what in the world?
Now if you know
that person was coming
and they're like,
hey,
I'm going to come rob you
at two o'clock,
I'm going to dig a hole
in your wall,
you're going to be sitting
on the other side of that
with a shotgun.
Why?
Because you're prepared.
If you know a thief
is coming to your house,
you're going to be ready.
The,
the,
the picture is this,
that there's no warning
and there's no announcement.
Everything's going to seem normal.
We,
we even think it to ourselves
and I think if we're not careful
as,
as believers,
we,
we would say,
oh,
I know Jesus is coming back,
but we're not living
with that sense of urgency.
If you,
if you read some of the
New Testament passages
about it,
the Apostle Paul
lived with urgency.
You think,
man,
how was Paul so effective?
He was urgent
about the master's business
because Paul said this,
we,
which are alive
and remain.
Here's when Paul thought
Jesus was coming,
when he was alive
and he lived like that
and his ministry
looked like that.
But the,
the picture that Jesus
paints here
is this family's asleep,
the house is quiet
and all of a sudden
the wall is broken through
and that's how Jesus
is going to come back.
as Bible believers,
we should believe
in the imminent return
of Christ.
And the language here,
it carries this idea
of something sudden
and decisive.
It's not a gradual,
it's not a delayed process.
There's no easing into it.
When Jesus comes,
it's going to be immediate,
it's going to be final
and there's going to be
no time to prepare
in that moment.
Because we celebrated Christmas,
the coming of Christ,
the first coming.
Listen,
when he came the first time,
he came on mission
to seek and to save
that which was lost.
But when he comes again,
that's not how he's coming.
He's coming as the king of kings.
He's coming as the Lord of lords.
He's coming as the judge
of all the earth.
That's who he is.
And people say,
well, we don't have time
to get ready.
Oh no,
we have had time to get ready.
The Lord's not slack
concerning his promises.
Some men count slackness,
but he's willing
and rather that all
should come to repentance.
You know why he hasn't?
He hasn't come back
because he so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son.
That's the only thing
that's holding him back.
Everything is already
in place for that.
And all throughout scripture,
we see this imagery
that Jesus is coming
and he's going to come
like a thief in the night.
You know,
sometimes you may
get something stolen
and you don't even know
it was stolen.
I remember when I was
in high school,
I heard a knock on my door
and it was like 6.05
and I was not alert.
I was not addressed.
I was not awake.
My dad's like,
who's at the door?
And I run down there.
It's the Flower Mound Police
where I grew up.
And they said,
we found your truck.
What?
Looked out there.
Sure enough,
my truck was not out
in the driveway anymore.
They stole it.
They didn't tell me
they stole it.
I slept like a baby
that night.
Get up in the morning.
They took it.
I went over.
They said,
it's over here.
I drove over there.
They took my own gardening,
my dad's gardening bricks
and took the wheels off it
and it was just
sat in this lady's driveway.
She's trying to get to work.
I was like,
well,
they would have told me.
I would have just let them
take it much nicer
instead of ripping it all apart.
That's the idea.
That Jesus is not a thief,
but he wants us to picture
that's how quickly
it's going to happen.
That's how unexpectedly
it's going to happen.
And here's what urgency does.
It changes how you respond
to things right now.
He said,
if you would have known
somebody's coming
to steal your hat,
you would have stayed watch
all night.
You would have been ready
for that.
And here's what it means to us.
It means that we don't
delay obedience.
There's a lot of things
we think,
well,
I don't know what the Lord
wants me to do.
We do.
Sometimes we just don't
want to do it.
Right now is not a good time.
It's not delayed obedience.
We don't put off repentance.
We don't assume
that we have more time.
And that's why it's so vital
that whether it's in a service
like this,
or it's in your own
Bible reading time,
or even the Lord can
convict us in certain
different ways,
don't put it off.
Just deal with it right then.
Lord,
would you help me?
Lord,
would you forgive me?
It means maybe speaking
to somebody about Christ
when the opportunity arises.
Oh,
I'll talk to him next week.
No,
today's the day.
Now is the time.
It means making things right,
maybe in a relationship,
instead of letting things linger.
Because if we're honest,
sometimes we live like
we have unlimited tomorrows,
but we don't.
We all like to think that.
We don't want to think
something can happen to me today,
or something can happen
to my family tomorrow,
but the reality is
we don't know.
And before we move on,
and we're going to hasten
to a close here in a minute,
I just want to,
I want us to make this personal.
what if Jesus came back
before this service ended?
What if the trumpet sounded
before we made it to lunch?
I mean,
what if today
was the day
when Jesus came back?
Would there be anything
in your life
you need to make right?
Maybe you need to call somebody.
Maybe you need to shoot
a text to them.
Maybe you need to ask
the Lord to forgive you.
The Lord is just reminding us
we need to live with urgency
because we don't know
that we need to be ready.
So how do we know
that we're truly living
and we're truly ready for it?
Jesus shows us here
in verses 41 through 44.
He says,
we need to live
as faithful stewards.
There in verse number 42,
He says,
who then is a faithful
and wise steward
whom the Lord
shall make rule over his house
to give them their portion
and meet in due season?
So He shows us
what a faithful servant
looks like.
A steward is this.
A steward's a manager.
A steward doesn't own anything.
He's the one
that's running the household.
He's the one
that the master
has left in charge.
He's been entrusted
with the responsibility
but really,
nothing in the house
belongs to Him.
He has a job
that He's been called to do
and as stewards,
we don't get to decide
what we do with it.
We're just called
to handle it faithfully.
And Jesus wants us
to see that one day
the master's going to come back
and He's going to ask
for an account.
Hey, what happened
when I was gone?
What did you do
when I was gone?
How did you take care of this?
Why didn't you do that?
And we won't have time
to really dig in here
but here's what we are.
We're just stewards.
And I want to remind you
that your time
and your gifts
and your opportunities,
they don't belong to you.
They've been entrusted to you.
And the Lord wants to know this.
What are you doing with it?
Here's what a faithful steward does.
He invested.
He works.
He serves.
He does that.
And the scripture's very clear.
We don't have time
to go into all that.
We will give an account.
If we know Him as our Savior,
not for salvation
but for what we did for Him.
What we did with what
He entrusted us to.
And the question is not
how much you have,
it's how faithful
have you been
with what you've been given.
That's what the Lord wants to know.
How faithful are we?
Listen, faithfulness is not flashy.
It's consistent.
It's obedient.
It's dependable.
It looks like showing up
when nobody else
even knows you're there.
Like doing right
when it's inconvenient.
Like serving without recognition.
And Jesus makes it clear
in verses 42 and 43
and verse 44
that that's not just
for the here and now.
Faithfulness is going to
carry into eternity.
See, faithfulness
is just going to show up
in everyday ordinary parts
of your life.
It's not just what you do in church.
It's how you live
everywhere else too.
It looks like being faithful at work
when your boss isn't watching.
Listen, I know it's March Madness.
It's the least productive week
of the whole thing.
So me and Brother Garrett,
we just watch it together
so we're unproductive together.
But sometimes we just think,
well, the boss doesn't know
I don't have to do that.
That's not what
a faithful steward does.
It's not how we live our life.
Faithfulness just means
leading your home spiritually
even when it's hard.
Stewards show up consistently
not when it's convenient.
That's not just talking about church.
That's talking about our life.
It's talking about
every area of our life.
It means using your time wisely
and your gifts to serve
and using the opportunities
God has given you
for His purpose.
And if Jesus evaluated
your life today,
would He find you faithful
with what He has given you?
I pray that He would.
But now Jesus gives us a warning
and we'll look at this quickly.
Verse 45 and 46.
We need to live by guarding our heart.
Verse 45.
But and if that servant say in his heart,
my Lord delayeth his coming
and shall begin to beat
the men servants
and the maid servants
and to eat and drink
and to be drunken.
The Lord of that servant
will come in a day
when he looketh not for him
and an hour when he is not aware
and will cut him in sunder
and will appoint his portion
with the unbelievers.
So what Jesus does
is He contrasts a faithful servant
and an unfaithful servant.
One that believes his Lord
and trusts that He's going to return
and prepares for it
and prepares his heart for it.
And now He shows us a man
that says,
well, He's not really coming.
Because this man
didn't have an urgency
and he really didn't believe
that his master was going to come back
at a certain time.
He thought,
hey, I'll get ready
when I know He's coming.
I'm going to live my life,
but when I get wind that He's coming,
then I'll change things.
But we don't know when He's coming.
And this man,
because he lived with this return
in his distant thinking,
the way he lived
became all about him.
And it says He began to beat
the other servants
and to eat and drink
and it was all about him.
Listen, this is not a lazy servant.
This is an unfaithful servant.
That he had the opportunity.
He knew the master said,
I'm coming back.
But he didn't do it.
This man's not having a rough season.
Here's what Jesus is picturing.
This is someone who claimed
to belong to the master,
but his life didn't match up to it.
See, his life told the story.
A changed heart
produces a changed life.
We can't say,
I'm ready,
but everything in our life
doesn't look like we're ready.
Now sometimes, you know,
it can look that way
because we've let sin
build up in our life.
But sometimes it's because
we don't really
know and believe the master.
We think that's just an old book.
They've been saying for 2,000 years,
the world says,
where is he?
Where's the promise of his coming?
He's not coming.
We're just going to live.
We're going to eat, drink,
and be merry.
But he's going to come.
And what Jesus reminds us
in these closing verses
is that everything
will be revealed
when he comes.
And because of that,
we must make sure
our life matches
our profession.
because he would say,
well, I'm in the house.
I have all these things.
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount,
they're going to be in that day,
they're going to say,
Lord, Lord,
Master, Master,
didn't we?
He said,
depart from me.
I never knew you.
See,
the truth will be known
on that day.
There will be justice.
And because of that,
we see in these last closing verses
in verse number 48
that we need to live
with eternal awareness.
Jesus kind of really lays
this principle of accountability down.
See,
in this culture,
and really in our culture,
the more responsibility you have,
the more that was expected of you.
And the same applies
to us spiritually.
That you can know
all about the Bible.
You can know the songs
we sang today.
You can know some of these verses.
But here's what Jesus is saying.
Have you prepared your life for that?
Because we can't just live
with a here and now.
We need to live
with this eternal awareness
that it is appointed unto man
once to die,
the Bible says,
and after this,
the judgment.
That every single person
will stand before the Lord
one day
and give an account.
I'm thankful
that when I stand before the Lord,
my sins are under the blood.
But there's going to be people there
that say,
well,
I did all these things,
but the Lord's going to remind us
that you didn't prepare.
You just lived your life
for yourself.
You didn't do the things
that I asked you to do.
And it reminds us here
in these verses,
and we're going to,
we don't have time
to get into all this,
but God's judgment
is not random.
He's not picking
and choosing people to judge.
No,
you're either prepared
or you're not.
You're either ready
or you're living for yourself.
And it's going to be precise.
It's going to be just.
It's going to be perfectly measured.
And the idea is
with greater knowledge,
it brings greater accountability.
I mean,
just bring it right here
where we live.
Think about how much
you know about God.
Many of you probably
brought your own copy
of the Word of God in here.
The Gospel is clearly,
you probably heard
the Gospel clearly preached
over and over and over.
You have access to truth
anytime you want it.
We try to the best
of our ability
here at Central
to faithfully teach
and preach
every single week.
The short idea is this,
we have been given much.
But for whosoever much is given,
much is required.
And see,
eternal awareness takes
how seriously
you take your life here.
It means you recognize this,
I will stand before God one day.
We all will.
But we need to live
with that awareness.
And that affects
how you respond to truth.
It affects
what you do
with what you've been taught.
It affects how seriously
you take obedience.
Listen,
being prepared
is not just hearing sermons,
it's responding to them.
It's not just reading
the Word of God,
it's allowing it
to transform your life.
It's not just about
knowing the truth,
but actually living.
It's not just about
attending the church,
but applying the truth
to your life.
That we have to realize
that we're a sinner
that needs saving
and we call upon Christ
because God's not going
to ask us one day,
what did you hear?
He's going to ask this,
what did you do
with what you heard?
Because both of these men,
these servants,
the faithful and the unfaithful,
they heard the master
say I'm coming.
One prepared
and one didn't.
That's what Jesus
teaches us right here.
Here's what I want us
to take home today.
The goal isn't
to be ready someday.
The call is to live ready today.
He's coming.
Are we ready?
Would you stand
with our heads bowed?
Transcription by CastingWords