The Good Servant

Luke 12:35-40

³⁵Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; ³⁶And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their LORD, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the LORD when he cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. ³⁸And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. ³⁹And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. ⁴⁰Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

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Life is one distraction after another isn’t it? And for most of us life has become routine, we get up and get ready for work or school, maybe we eat breakfast maybe we don’t, then it’s out the door and off for the day.

During the day you’re busy doing the things that are needed for work or you’re running from class to class, maybe, if you’re lucky, through the day you get a moment to sit down for lunch and a little time to yourself, but maybe you don’t, maybe your work or your lessons are so involved that you have to skip lunch and continue to work. Then at the end of the day it’s time to go home where if you have animals, like us, you have to tend to them or pick up the house from the morning or the night before maybe you have so much homework you have to get right to it, maybe you’re the one who fixes dinner in your home so you get busy doing that, then it’s time to clean up and get ready for bed, what little free time you have after all of that you may get to watch a little TV or read a book and then it’s off to sleep, until the morning where it all starts again.

Maybe your retired and you don’t really have a rat race to run anymore so you set about the day doing the things you planned the night before, maybe there’s housework to do, maybe you volunteer somewhere maybe you just don’t plan anything, you just take it minute by minute and are free to do as you wish.

Whichever type of person you are you can probably bet that you won’t be found with your face plastered against the window or standing outside staring towards the heavens waiting on the second coming.

Chances are that through the day it doesn’t even cross your mind because we don’t think about church things like that, we tend to deal with the days chores or any distractions that come along, we deal with the things that are “here and now”, the last thing that is on our mind is the second coming.

After all there are things more pressing at the moment because we’re pretty sure Christ isn’t coming today, honestly, isn’t that what we think?

When we get right down to it, all of us are probably guilty of thinking that Jesus will not be returning in our life time, we believe that it will happen someday, but we believe that at the earliest, it may be in our children’s lifetime or our children’s, children’s lifetime but definitely not in ours.

So, we go about life as if death with meet us before Jesus will.

Yes, we know the scripture about Jesus coming like a thief in the night, you’ve probably heard the scripture that was read here today before but we just don’t believe that today or tomorrow will be that day, and that is exactly what the people who will be living when Jesus returns will be thinking, “not today, maybe later, but definitely not today.”

It’s curious isn’t it, the way our minds work; we say we believe in scripture; we believe the word of God is true so why don’t we take this warning from Christ seriously?

 

Now some of you sitting here today may be thinking that you do take it seriously, and maybe you do, but I truly believe that although most Christians do believe that Jesus’ 2^nd coming will be a surprise, they still believe that it won’t be while they are alive.

Ask yourself this: do you really believe that Jesus might show up today? Now I didn’t say “could” show up today, I said “might” show up today.

Think about this, and listen closely, if you knew Jesus was coming at 8 PM tonight, what would your behavior be like throughout the day, would you do some of the things that you have done already today, would you have thought or said some of the things that you have thought or said today or would you be on your best behavior?

If you knew without a doubt that 8 PM was Show time, wouldn’t you love a little harder today, wouldn’t you be more patient with those who test your patience, wouldn’t you be sure to forgive the person who may have wronged you, wouldn’t you be sure that you were ready to give an accounting?

If you knew that Jesus was coming tonight for his saints, wouldn’t you run to someone you know is lost for one more attempt to lead them to salvation, wouldn’t you stop someone, anyone and warn them of the impending coming of the Son of God?

So, what’s your excuse for not doing this today? The answer is that you think the chances of it happening are slim to none.

Christians listen up! If your Lord and Savior, the Master to whom you are supposed to be a slave to were coming tonight wouldn’t you have his home prepared for his arrival, wouldn’t you have done all that He commanded you to do in order to prepare for his arrival?

Instead, we are like children that believe that their parents are gone until later that night, or like children who think their parents are asleep in our room, they do things they know they shouldn’t be doing.

We say things we know better to say, we make messes out of our lives because we believe that there’s plenty of time before our father shows up to get things right.

But ask my kids how many times they have been goofing around in their room when they should be sleeping, only to look up and see me standing there in the doorway the look on their faces can be quite comical.

Well, that’s what it’s going to be like for millions of people when the trumpet sounds and Christ appears it will be just as Jesus spoke about in

Matthew 24:37-39

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

This is why I say we don’t take it seriously, because like those who lived in the day of Noah we too shall be caught unaware and sadly for many, unprepared and the look on our faces will not be comical at all.

The warning in the opening scripture wasn’t just that you should be like the good servants, but also that you shouldn’t be like the “good man of the house” Jesus said “if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.” if that man knew that a thief was coming that night he would have prepared for him, but the truth is thief’s don’t announce when they are coming so unless you want to suffer loss, you better prepare for them EVERY night.

Do you know what my kids feel when they thought that was I in my room asleep but see me standing in the door way? How they act when they were told to do something in the house before we get home and they lose track of time and hear the door opening?

The first thing they feel is fear. They feel fear and dread, they feel fear because their father, who commanded them to go to sleep but whom they disobeyed, has caught them ignoring his command, they feel dread because they know the chastisement that they are about to receive because they know he is capable of wrath.

But what they should feel, is guilt and sorrow because in their hearts they know that they have not only disobeyed their father, but that they have disappointed him. They have been caught disobeying the one who provides all they need and in spite of their flaws the one who loves them eternally.

When you love someone in authority over you, you follow their commands*( John 14:15 If you love me keep my commands) and if you don’t follow their command and you are caught, it hurts not only them but you as well.

There are only one of two reasons why we not only don’t expect the return of Jesus today but that we don’t act as if it were today.

One is that in your heart you don’t take this warning seriously, or two, that in your heart you truly do not believe.

Either way you are being disobedient to Christ.

This is why we must preach that salvation must not be put off to another day, this is why we say “tomorrow may not come”, this is why, as Christians, we are called to live every second of every day as if it were the last.

Once Jesus comes it will be too late, it will be too late to prepare, it will be too late to accept, it will be too late to be obedient it will be too late to do anything other than receive either his Chastisement or His gratitude.

Jesus won’t listen to “I didn’t know you would come today” because he will say to you “Didn’t I tell you “for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not.”

So, what else will you tell him, what else can you tell him.

What if Jesus showed up at the very moment of your outburst in anger?

What if Jesus showed up at the moment you were gossiping?

What if Jesus showed up while you were caught committing adultery or the moment you were drunk or high?

What if Jesus showed up in the middle of a lie or while you were stealing.

What if Jesus showed up when you were choosing to ignore the call for charity.

What if Jesus showed up at the worst possible moment he could show up?

What would you say, what could you say?

Jesus IS coming back, and Jesus will come unannounced there will be no telephone call, no early warning system alert there will only be Him standing in the doorway.

This is why it is important to make Godly decisions, this is why we are called to not give in to temptation, and this is why we are called to be set aside from the world, so that even though you may be in it you will be found not to be off it.

When you leave here today remember that there is a very real chance that today is the day of Christ return, when you leave here today and sin knocks at the door recognize that you are not the servant of sin any longer that your Master is Christ and refuse to answer that knock.

When you leave here today from this point forward, be a good servant, do what the master has called you to do, flee from the things the Master has called you to flee from, and just as importantly don’t put off until tomorrow the chance to follow His command today.