Are You Ready?
Series: Encountering Jesus (through the Gospel of Luke)
Brad Bailey – September 15, 2019
Series #37
Text – Luke 12:32-48
Intro
We are continuing in our extended encounter with Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. Luke refers to one of the Gospel accounts… formed by firsthand testimony… which becomes a living testimony.
We come to the point at which we hear Jesus confront the very core of what matters.
What is your life rooted in? As we heard in the past couple weeks… he warned them…
• Don’t be hypocrites… which really means…don’t be actors…because when we are just performing to a world of actors…we will always be defined by this world…not by God.
• Then he warned us of greed…and having our lives defined by material possessions…because he said, “we do not consist of merely the accumulation of things.”
Now he continues to speak of being rooted in God…staying rooted in God… in what is coming…in what will last.
The text is long…but I think you’ll agree… what Jesus is saying to us is best heard in the whole of his words. (Will begin with the final words read last week as they lead into this text)
Luke 12:32-48?"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35 "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 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. 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. 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. 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. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
41 Peter asked, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?" 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? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 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. 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. 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. 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.
These words from Jesus are strong… we hear the heart of warning.
He has turned toward Jerusalem… and what is coming is so much more than anyone is prepared for… than anyone is ready for.
He knows that many have been astounded by him… deemed at one level to be a new religious leader… but on another level… so much more…by his power and authority…he appears to have come from God… but they do not understand the full nature of what he is bringing to bear.
His warning comes in relationship to something amazing that is at hand… as he begins…
"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Jesus again refers to the “kingdom of God.”
Contrary to what is commonly said about Jesus…he is not simply a source of moral teaching… or inner peace.
He comes bearing the beginning of a complete change in the powers that be.
He has entered the created realm in which everything is separated from it’s source…. disordered…disoriented.
The powers that separate are going to be defeated.
And everything will ultimately be restored to it’s proper relationship with God and itself. As Jesus describes…
Matthew 19:28-29 (NIV) ?Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, … everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
The renewal of all things. The word that is used is the Greek word (paliggenesia) means the regenesis or something being completely restored to it’s rightful state. [1]
Everything becomes everything it’s supposed to be.
Near the very end of The Lord of the Rings, in which the true hero of the story, Sam Gamgee, says,
“I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue?”
As Tolkien knows…these are words answered by Jesus: Ask Jesus. Say, “Jesus, I thought you were dead. I thought I was dead. Is everything sad going to come untrue?” The answer of Jesus in the Bible is, “Yes.”
It bears a change to the order of things.
It is often described as upside - down… because it changes the sociological status quo… the last are first and the first are last…those deemed the least matter most.
It is also described as outside – in…. which is to say that the whole nature of getting approval and self-esteem and worth and honor and dignity…is no longer from the outside to the inside…in which we perform and hope to be validated. But now it will be rooted and flowing from the inside…from the radical love and approval of God. It flow outside in.
Now we’re going to see one more way in which God rearranges your life. He doesn’t just have you live upside down and inside out, but also forward back. [2] It means the future moves backwards into the present.
What is to come is now here.
In his having come… he is inaugurating what is to come… which will be culminated in his return. [3]
They who follow will face something… TIME.
In this text Jesus speaks of one waiting for the master to come home from a wedding feast.
And how it may come late.
(The ‘second watch’ of the night was around midnight; the ‘third watch’ was the last stretch before dawn.)
What happens when we wait?
If you had a big change coming…. Starting a new career… or a move to a radically different place.
Imagine that it coming in just three days.
Now imagine that it is coming at some time… but much needs to happen first…so there is no way of being certain when.
“Any time”…can begin to feel like “no time.”
We begin to get settled into where we are… and that ultimate destiny begins to have little effect. [4]
We must live as those who have entered a new kingdom… while we faithfully seek it’s fulfilment even as we suffer the hardships of this state.
But if we lose our sense…we will live for this world and the new life becomes secondary… left for the future.
Jesus is warning us… to remain faithful…and to know that faithfulness will not be what we choose to do at the last minute.
Our faithfulness is about staying rooted in the future now.
Waiting can also be a transforming process… in which be grow.
Ask any couple pregnant and preparing… there is an expansive dynamic in more ways than one.
Their whole life and role is new.
So Jesus warns us to be rooted….ready.
How can I enter the future now… the Kingdom at hand?
How can I live as one rooted and ready to enter the new Kingdom at hand?
If someone said the new king has won this land…and is going to begin restoring it… you can be a member of his kingdom…you have a choice: live as a participant of the old kingdom… however declining it may be…or as a participant of the new kingdom…even while still resident in the old.
Verse 33…
Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
1. Invest in what is to come (Generosity)
Everything that you are investing in, that is only material in nature…will not last.
And everything you invest in, that is eternal in nature ,will last forever.
And noting will define our spiritual life more. Why? Because it defines what our source of security is in.
That is why he begins by saying: Do not be afraid
You should no longer be bound by fear… fear is the root of stinginess and greed. When you are inheriting everything… you don’t need to be bound by the same fear. In the future… there will be just provisions for all….so become free to live that way.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
In doing so…you will live for that place.
If you sold everything you had…and bought stock in a foreign country…you’d become both far less effected by this country…and far more connected and effected by that foreign country.
So the first thing Jesus says will allow us enter the reality of the kingdom…is to invest in the future.
He goes on…
Luke 12:35-40 (NIV) ?35 "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 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. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.
The second thing Jesus says about entering the Kingdom to come… is to
2. Stay faithfully focused and prepared.
Jesus said in verse thirty-five, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; (36) and you yourselves be like men who wait on their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.”
Such a banquet was of indeterminate length. A wedding banquet might consist of only a single meal and require only a few hours; but if the host were a person of wealth, the feasting could go on for days. It was impossible then to know exactly when the master of the house would return, so when the master would return was anyone’s guess.
But the faithful servant would not become less vigilant.
When does this take place? At night. In all of Jesus’ illustrations and parables about the second coming, that master is away at night. It’s the time we most naturally sleep…
Jesus is pointing out that is characteristic of this world. The age between the first and second coming of Christ is a time in which it is dark. That means it’s a time that actually makes it easy for people to go to sleep spiritually.
It is the time we come under the influence of dreams.
This is the picture we find throughout God’s Word: to be awake spiritually means to let eternal reality affect us more than the temporary. [5]
“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning”
Though it was late at night, these servant’s were still dressed and ready for service. The kept their long undergarments lifted from around their feet…and tucked into their belts… ready to go.
And they had their lamps burning. In a world with no electricity… no lights to flip on… everything would be completely dark… and sleep would come…unless they kept a lamp burning….which means they kept oil in the lamps… and the wicks prepared. they keep the light on. [6
In the same way… we must stay focused and prepared. The darkness and sleep will take us if we live according to this disordered world… defined by the pride and criticism of this world. We must live for God’s view…His approval…His grace.
And if we are honest… we may be more sleepy than we think
When we find more comfort in buying new clothes than eternal identity.
When we find more consumed by our next vacation than what ultimately lies ahead.
There is nothing wrong with new clothes and vacation. The issue is being defined by what is to come.
We need to stay focused …which we do through the focus of prayer… joining with others who know about the kingdom.
At this point…good old Peter speaks up…
Peter asked, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?" - Luke 12:41
It sounds a little like the question that teachers often hear from students. You know, the teacher is in the middle of what he or she thinks is a brilliant and inspiring lecture, and the hand goes up on the third row in the back, and the student says, “Excuse me, is this going to be on the test?”
… meaning… Do I need to be listening to this?”
But Jesus doesn’t react… perhaps because Jesus had spoken about how Israel had missed the timing of God’s visitation…in himself… and so perhaps Jesus was speaking broadly or just to his core team’s faithfulness. [7]
In any case… he doesn’t answer the question directly.
He speaks of how each must be faithful to what they have been given.
And he speaks of how they serve others.
Luke 12:42-46 (NIV) ?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? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 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. 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.
Notice the mark of the guy who is not living in awareness of the coming king. What do we see? Verses 43, 44, and 45 tell us about a guy whose job it was to feed the other servants. Instead, he eats the food himself. He eats food instead of feeding. He’s supposed to take care of the other servants. He’s supposed to serve the other servants. Then he beats them. He oppresses them. He abuses them.
The opposite of that is the king himself,
He says, “… [the master] will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”
What is to come will not be rooted in the social status by which those deemed lesser serve those deemed superior.
The third thing Jesus says about entering the Kingdom to come… is to
3. Serve according to the social order of what is coming (across the temporal social strata)
Radical service across social barriers
What is to come will not be rooted in the social status by which those deemed lesser serve those deemed superior.
So begin to relate to others not by the social status of this world…but of the world to come when everything is made right. [8]
This is something that Jesus had been revealing and imparting throughout his entire ministry. He had told his followers not to Lord themselves over others as the religious leaders had… he said that he the master had come not to be served but to serve…and most notably…he stopped for the least and left out that no one even noticed… and he blessed them.
Closing
His point is that there is a new kingdom… and it has already been given… extended to you.
Like one preparing to travel… you embrace a new time zone… new customs…values.
Jesus concludes bringing home the simple fact that we are responsible for what we have been given.
We may find Jesus’ description of the unfaithful servant being so harshly punished. It may be helpful o realize that Jesus is telling a parable…using the imagery to make a point… and the point is to take our responsibility seriously.
The truth is that if we reject God…we will face the consequences.
Apart from what God does ….we will all face the consequences… judgement.
Jesus point is not that we must become good enough servants to avoid punishment. Because no one is going to fulfill being the perfect servant.
If we step back…I believe we will discover that what Jesus did is initially come to FULFILL being the faithful servant… and fulfilling the power of heaven over earth… and calls us to follow. He fulfills these ways…providing a way for us to follow.
He is the fulfillment of the very servant we are being called to.
He is the servant who serve others… beyond boundaries… who girded himself… and he is also the servant who took the punishment… was cut to pieces.
This is exactly what God has spoken long ago…that the iniquity will be upon him”… he was cut to pieces when crucified…and he was cast out like an unbeliever.
Responsive Song: We are ready - WE ARE READY Lyrics | Vineyard Soul
Resources: N. T. Wright - Luke for Everyone (pp. 154–157). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. (2004). Tim Keller (“When He Comes” & “Forward-Back Living”);
John Hamby (“Are You Ready?”)
Notes:
1. As described in Acts 17:31 – “For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead."
2. As Tim Keller notes: Here’s a paradox. In all the teaching of Jesus, it’s very important to see. It’s a paradox in all the New Testament. Sometimes we’re speaking about the kingdom of God as if it’s future. Do you remember when we got to Luke 22, the Last Supper? Jesus says, “I’m not going to drink this wine with you again until we drink it in the kingdom of God.”
Obviously, the paliggenesia is future, and yet here Jesus talks about the kingdom of God as if it’s present. What does that mean? It can mean only this. Time travel is wild, isn’t it? “That doesn’t happen.” Oh, really? The Bible promises time travel. Not you going to the future; the future coming into you.
When Jesus Christ says you must be born again to enter the kingdom … The only other place in the Bible where this Greek word paliggenesia is used is in Titus 3:5–6, when Paul is talking about the new birth. This is what he says: “He [God] saved us through the regeneration [that’s the word paliggenesia] of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out [past tense] on us in Jesus Christ.” What he means is the same power that someday is so great it’s going to cleanse the universe, make everything sad untrue, is coming into your life now, partially, not fully, but really, now.
It has come. That’s what the rebirth is. That’s what the new birth is. That’s what receiving the Holy Spirit means. That’s what it means to enter the kingdom. That’s what it means to receive the kingdom. That’s what it means to be born again. It’s all the same thing. That’s the power of the kingdom that is available to some degree now, not all the way there, to those who believe in Jesus Christ.
3. N.T. Wright sees this warning more connected to Christ current coming to Israel rather than the second coming. He writes: “From now on in Luke we shall find several warnings about what will happen to the nation as a whole, and to its central symbol, the Temple, if it does not realize that the master is returning. This picture looks forward to 19:11–27, which is not about the second coming of Jesus but about the return of Israel’s God to Zion—which was happening, Jesus believed, then and there. The master came back, but the servants were not ready.”
4. As John Hamby notes: The apostle Peter wrote to the Christian community about some who were mocking the coming of the Lord, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." Peter replied, "The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." (2 Peter 3:3-11.) John would write to the same churches after the deaths of Peter and Paul, "And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." (1 John 2:28.)
5. Paul says, “Awake, because it’s time for you to awaken and cast off sleep, because the ark of salvation …” He says in Romans 13:11 “… is closer than the day in which we first believed.”
6. N.T .Wright notes: “Luke highlights the Exodus theme at various points in his story of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, and the passage in question here points particularly to the first keeping of Passover. The Israelites were to eat that meal already dressed for their journey, so that they could be up and off at a moment’s notice.”
7. As to whether this passage is directed to leaders in particular… while it does speak to those who provide food for others… but in the end speaks of “everyone” (v 48) according to what they have been given. So I believe it speaks to all. However, this would imply that leaders have been entrusted with much. In Hebrews 13:17 verse 17 — the author of Hebrews is giving an exhortation to the congregation to obey your leaders and to submit to those whom the Lord has put over you, and then he says these words - “for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” In other words, they will give an account as to whether they have lived their lives in such a way that it was their prime concern that the flock of God was fed the Word of God, was protected from spiritual wolves, was served in their hour of need, was shepherded in their spiritual life.
8. Tim Keller notes… Joel Green, a commentator on the gospel of Luke, says something like, “Though this scene otherwise reflects norms of that society with slaves waiting the arrival of their lord, in the end Jesus’ metaphor subverts the very basis of the whole slave system. When the master arrives, he undergoes a status reversal, showing in the household of God, in the kingdom of God, all will be blind with regard to status or pedigree. In the kingdom of God, mutual service reigns and hierarchies of status are nullified.”
