29. Who is Jesus?
March 20th, 2010
Be Ready
We have seen a lot of really amazing things about Jesus, but the best is yet to come. We are in the final months of Jesus life. Jesus has been healing people, performing miracles, casting out demons, battling the religious, and answering questions all to get us ready for the coming of the kingdom of God. After Jesus laid the smack down on the religious leaders He became very popular. Crowds of thousands had gathered to hear Jesus speak. While Jesus was speaking one guy in the front interrupted Him with a question about money that has lead into some heavy teaching.
Money has a tendency to control our thoughts and lives. Many people treasure money and treat it like God. Jesus says there are more important things than money in this life. We need to focus on what really matters. The kingdom of God is coming so don’t worry about money.
Jesus focus is on preparing us for the coming of the kingdom of God. Jesus has told us what not to do. Don’t focus on money, don’t worry about your life, don’t be afraid. Now Jesus tells us what we should do. Don’t worry about your needs getting met and learn to rely and to become dependent on God. The kingdom of God is coming and you need to be ready. When Jesus rose from the dead the kingdom of God was established on earth but that kingdom will not be fully realized until He returns.
Here we are in Luke 12:35 where Jesus is preparing us for His return by teaching us to be ready. What do you do before a significant event in your life? You prepare. We plan for parties, we practice before performances, we study before a test, we spend lots of time preparing for a wedding. Significant events come with preparation.
Lk 12:35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, Lk 12:36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. Lk 12:37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. Lk 12:38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.
First step: be dressed and ready. If you are not dressed you are not ready. Here is our practical application: don’t be naked when Jesus comes back. What Jesus says here is literally ‘gird your loins.’ That doesn’t even sound appropriate for church. Jewish men dressed differently than we do. They wore these long flowing robes, we would call them dresses, they wouldn’t but a rose by any other name. Robes were not made for running because they restrict movement. So when they tried to work their dress would get tangled between their legs and cause all sorts of problems.
So what they would do is reach down between their ankles, grab the bottom part of their robe and tuck it in to their belt. So when they were working they would look like baby Huey. This would be quite the site: a bunch of men working in giant diapers. While this would look ridiculous it would allow them to work, run, or fight. Just another fashion that we are glad went out of style. Depends are not a good fashion statement.
Then Jesus says to keep the lamps lit. The lamps Jesus refers to are small dishes that you could in your hands like a bowl which you will fill with oil. You would light a wick and it became a portable light source. Be dressed and have a mag-lite. The idea was the servants need to be ready for their master’s return. Both of these things were easy to do, but they you had to be paying attention so the light didn’t go out.
So here is the picture Jesus is painting: the master has departed to His wedding banquet. His servants don’t know when He will return. Wedding feasts could last from a few hours to a week. When the master returns He will be coming back with His new bride. This is a joyous occasion. When He gets home He doesn’t want to wait for His servants to wake up to answer the door. The servant’s job is to be ready for their master’s return. Religious people will make this an obligation. Be ready or you will go to hell. That doesn’t seem to fit with who Jesus is.
Jesus says be ready, not get ready. Readiness is not a destination but a state of being. We must continually remain ready, be dressed and fully prepared. Let’s say it comes time for my wife and I’s anniversary. We make plans to go on a romantic date starting with a nice diner. So she goes to get out to get some stuff ready and when she returns she finds me lying around in my pajama’s. I haven’t showered, I haven’t gotten dressed I am just sitting there. Ladies, is my wife happy with this situation? No. I get up and get ready and in ten minutes I get showered, cleaned up, dressed up, and am ready to go and we leave in plenty of time to make our reservation. Ladies does that make the situation better? No. The romance is sort of ruined. Getting ready says: I care but not very much. Being ready is powerful expression of love. We show Jesus our love for Him not by getting ready once He has returned, but by being ready when He returns. What you are saying when you remain ready: is you are a priority, I value you. So I am not going to procrastinate. I am not going to wait until the last minute.
When Jesus returns, the servants He finds who are ready and waiting He will serve. This is a huge role reversal. The God of heaven and earth, the king of kings and lord of lords will serve His own servants. This is their reward for being ready.
Lk 12:39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. Lk 12:40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Houses in Palestine were made out of a sun-dried brick made of clay and straw. So a thief would typically not break in so much as tunnel their way in by digging through the walls. If you knew when the thief was coming he wouldn’t be a very good thief. You could easily deal with him because you would be prepared.
Getting prepared for a moment is easy. The challenge is staying prepared. Being prepared is a reflection of the love we have for Jesus and the value we put on our relationship with Him. If Jesus had told us when He was coming back then people who didn’t love Him would prepare for His arrival so they could receive their reward. So Jesus returns at an hour unknown so that those who truly love Him will be separated from those who don’t. Jesus doesn’t not confuse disciples with opportunists, His kingdom is for His true followers. When we really love Jesus we live in a state of readiness for His return. Some people like to procrastinate their spiritual development. Jesus doesn’t want me to do this, but I am going to keep doing it for now. Jesus is asking me to do this, but ill get to it later. When you postpone faithfulness you are not ready. The consequence of not being ready is being counted as a non-believer and those consequences are eternal.
Some people think they can get ready. Jesus says to be ready. When Jesus comes it will be at an unexpected time so only those who remain ready will be ready.
Lk 12:41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” Lk 12:42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? Lk 12:43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Lk 12:44 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. Lk 12:45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. Lk 12:46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
Peter once again misses the point. Peter is worrying about everyone else when he should be worried about himself. When we are given a task by God we often look around to see what others are doing. We often judge our effectiveness and devotion to God by comparing ourselves to others instead of faithfully following God’s commands. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. We don’t need to worry about what is fair or how well everyone else is doing. If Jesus gives you a task shut up and do it.
If you do your job Jesus will give you more to do. Sometimes we want to jump into positions, we want control, we want authority, we want to vote, we want to be in charge. Don’t worry about that. Just do your job faithfully and God will give you more. An employee’s character is seen not in what they do when their boss is around but in what they do when he isn’t. Anyone can be responsible when someone is watching. It is when the boss is gone for a long time that the true character of a person is revealed.
Then there is this talk of chopping to pieces. This is a great verse for Children’s Church- Hey kids what did you learn today? Umm Jesus is going to cut you into pieces. Not exactly a peaceful image, Jesus going all Freddy Krueger on someone is a bit unsettling. There are some similarities, kill Freddy he just comes back to life, kill Jesus He just comes back to life. Keep in mind this is in reference to the servant who was put in charge and in his master’s absence abuses his power. This is a servant who punishes and beats the other servants and mistreats them. This is a reference to the religious leaders and the false teachers. These people will be punished. They will be ripped away from the kingdom of God and tossed out as unbelievers to be mistreated themselves.
Lk 12:47 “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. Lk 12:48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Jesus is addressing willful sin. This is a serious problem. When you do something you know is wrong or you don’t do what you know is right the result is severe punishment. Ignorance is not an excuse. We should know our master’s will. We are made in His image. Making excuses doesn’t justify us but the punishment for sinning in ignorance is much lighter.
If you know what God wants you to do and chose not to do it, your punishment will be greater than those who don’t. You know now what the right thing to do is, which means you have no more excuses. But don’t read this a threat from an angry God. A good parent disciplines their children. For those of you who are parents if your child did something wrong because they didn’t know better are you going to punish them the same way you would if they deliberately disobeyed you? No. You might still punish them so they the lesson but the punishment is lesser because it wasn’t direct disobedience. God is a loving Father which means He will discipline His children. Why? Because God loves you.
The servant who is faithful will be blessed. The servant who lives as if the time, treasure, and talents he has access to are his own which is basically living as if he is the master, will be punished. The idea here is we don’t own anything. You don’t have the right to withhold from God because what you are withholding belongs to God. You don’t have the right to argue with God because you belong to God. You are not the master, you are the servant.
Jesus owns your time, talent, and treasure. You don’t own it. You manage it for Him. It is all about Jesus. We can say that all we want, but a faithful servant is someone who does it. A faithful servant actually lives as if their lives are all about Jesus and you can see it. You can see it in their giving, their serving, and in their using of their gifts and talents for the benefit of the kingdom of God. If your time, talent, and treasure are not all devoted to Jesus then your life is not all about Jesus.
We have an opportunity to use the tools that God has entrusted us to benefit His kingdom. The cool thing is when we do, we get rewarded. Jesus gives us the stuff and then rewards us for using it. Jesus promises to bless those who use what He has given them for Him. When you do this, when you devote your time, treasure, and talent to the kingdom of God in giving, in serving, and in following Jesus you get to partner with Jesus in sharing His love with the world. You can make an eternal difference. When we are faithful to use our gifts for the kingdom of God we get see that kingdom coming to life around us: lives being changed, hearts being transformed, sick being tended to, poor being cared for, and the hungry being fed. When we live for the kingdom of God we are just investing in it, we are building it.
