"Being Faithful & Wise"
Luke 12:35-48
A sermon for 9/4/22 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor John Bright
Harmony & Swansonville UMC
Luke 12 “35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. 38 And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 40 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.
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Anybody that ever lived close to a powerplant knows that not all the lines carrying electricity are the same. Transmission lines are on tall metal towers and they carry the higher voltages from the power source to locations far away. Then, that electricity is moved into the Distribution lines that we see around our houses and along the road. These lower voltage lines are usually on wooden poles. Most of us live far from the power-producing stations, but we expect the electricity to be there when we flip a light switch or cook frozen veggies in the microwave.
In the same way – we are far removed from the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the explosive growth of the early Church. The Word of God and the Apostolic faith are God’s gifts to assure faithful transmission of the beliefs and practices that define the Body of Christ – the true Believers – in every generation. Whose responsibility is that faithful transmission today? YOU & ME! In this, we keep the Believers today and those who come after us ready for the return of Christ.
Be ready, v. 35-40
Luke 12 “35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. 38 And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 40 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Jesus is giving them encouraging words – He will return! Do we hear these words with hope today as those who read the Revelation of Jesus Christ written by John to the seven churches? They longed for His return because they were persecuted. We lead comfortable lives because we have worked hard to make it that way – so we have a lot to lose. How do you feel when you realize it might be today when The Great Shepherd comes back to take His sheep home? We don’t know when, but we know how. We also have instructions on how to be ready.
Here we find Jesus telling them – “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning” – this is 1st century language for being ready – being constantly prepared. He goes on to compare them (and us) to servants waiting for the master to return to the house. How pleased will the master be to find them ready? So pleased that they switch rolls and the master becomes the servant of those in the house.
Let me fill in the blanks here – Jesus is the master that is going to return. The Body of Christ, the Church, is the house. We are the servants that tend to His house until He returns. We are also the ones that allow the Thief – satan – to break in. God has called us to treat what we have received as a precious gift and we are accountable to God in this:
1 Corinthians 3:9-11 “9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
All of 2 Peter 2 is a warning against false teachers and those who allow them in the Church - 2 Peter 2:1-2 “1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.”
How do we prevent this? We guard what has been faithfully transmitted from long ago – God’s Word and the Apostolic Faith. To talk about this, I need to throw a couple of big, fancy Latin words at you so hold on!
• Orthodoxy – “ortho” is right or correct and “doxy” is belief or doctrine – so this is a word we use in Christianity to describe correct beliefs
• Orthopraxy – “praxy” is practice or behavior – so this is a word that is used to describe correct behavior
Here’s a bit from gotquestions.org – “According to the Bible, correct doctrine will lead to correct behavior, but the doctrine comes first. In Romans, Paul spends the first eleven chapters explaining correct doctrine. In Romans 12:1 he transitions to correct practice: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” The word therefore means that the instructions that follow are based upon the doctrine that has just been explained.”
“In Titus 3:8 Paul pulls orthodoxy and orthopraxy together in one verse: “I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God [orthodoxy] may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good [orthopraxy]. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.” He does the same thing in Ephesians 2. Verses 8–9 emphasize the orthodox teaching that we are saved by grace through faith apart from good works: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Verse 10 completes the thought: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Once again, correct belief comes first, and out of that flow correct works. We are saved apart from works; God’s purpose in saving us is that we do good works.” https://www.gotquestions.org/orthopraxy-orthopraxis.html
Where do we find ourselves today in the UMC? We have divorced belief from behavior. Let me tell you who is to blame – YOU & ME! Return with me to the 1960s and 70s – the culture went through what became known as the “Sexual Revolution.” There were lots of folks having sexual relationships outside of marriage and because we wanted them to be comfortable coming to church, we “winked” and said behavior described as sinful in God’s Word is ok – as long as you love the person.
Today, folks want us to “wink” and say it’s ok for a man to have a sexual relationship with another man or a woman with a woman or three people (a throuple) - not sure where it will end. They say – as long as you love the person. Wonder where they learned that?
To divorce belief and behavior – we have followed the advice of pastors like Adam Hamilton. “In his 2014 book, Making Sense of the Bible, he describes three different “buckets” into which we might place different scripture passages. The first bucket is for the biblical passages that “reflect the timeless will of God for human beings,” the second bucket contains passages that “reflect God’s will in a particular time but not for all time,” and, finally, into the third bucket go all the passages that “reflect the culture and historical circumstances in which they were written but never reflected God’s timeless will” (Making Sense of the Bible, 273-274). He suggests that the handful of passages addressing same-sex intimacy are examples of passages he would place in the third bucket. In other words, according to Hamilton, what the Bible says about homosexuality is not what God says about homosexuality.” (Rev. Cabe Matthews)
https://firebrandmag.com/articles/the-center-cannot-hold
All sexual practices that are outside the marriage of one (born biological) man and one (born biological) woman are referred to as “sexual immorality” (pornea) in God’s Word. Sexual immorality is uniformly condemned in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Even Jesus warns us – Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” (fornications = pornea = what we said was ok after the 1960s)
If I find sexual immorality listed as behavior that will land you in the lake of fire in Revelation 21 and keep you out of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22 – should I warn you that sexual immorality is a salvation issue? (Revelation 21:8, 22:15)
Grace and God’s Discipline v. 41-48
“41 Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?”
“42 And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. 45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
If I want to be a faithful and wise steward of God’s Word and the Apostolic faith, I can’t just give you the “good parts” and make sure you leave here every Sunday full of “warm fuzzies.”
These words of Jesus contain three warnings – for clergy and laity:
• The one who openly disobeys the master will suffer a horrible fate and be treated as an unbeliever. I would make the case that we have these in the church today. Jesus warned us this would happen in Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” They may look like a sheep, but their actions will tell the real story!
• The one who knows what the master wants done and does not do it will receive discipline.
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son” (Hebrews 12:5–6, quoting Proverbs 3:11–12).
• Finally, the one who does not know but still commits sin will receive discipline – only less than the others.
Article – “When, how, and why does the Lord God discipline us when we sin?” https://www.gotquestions.org/Lord-God-discipline.html
Let me reassure you – if you are receiving discipline from God, you deserve it and if you are receiving grace from God, you don’t deserve it!
Where did we lose these core beliefs and practices from God’s Word and the Apostolic faith? Will be commended by the master as faithful and wise when He returns? We will be held accountable for our beliefs and our behavior – as well as how we transmit them to the generations that follow. Amen.
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Teaching Sheet
"Being Faithful & Wise"
Luke 12:35-48
9/4/22
The Word of God and the Apostolic faith are God’s gifts to assure faithful transmission of the beliefs and practices that define the Body of Christ – the true Believers – in every generation. Whose responsibility is that faithful transmission today? YOU & ME! In this, we keep the Believers today and those who come after us ready for the return of Christ.
Be ready, v. 35-40
Do we hear these words with hope today?
How do you feel when you realize it might be today when The Great Shepherd comes back to take His sheep home?
In this brief parable - Jesus is the master that is going to return. The Body of Christ, the Church, is the house. We are the servants that tend to His house until He returns. We are also the ones that allow the Thief – satan – to break in. God has called us to treat what we have received as a precious gift and we are accountable to God in this: 1 Corinthians 3:9-11 & 2 Peter 2:1-2
We MUST guard what has been faithfully transmitted from long ago – God’s Word and the Apostolic Faith.
• Orthodoxy – “ortho” is right or correct and “doxy” is belief or doctrine – so this is a word we use in Christianity to describe correct beliefs
• Orthopraxy – “praxy” is practice or behavior – so this is a word that is used to describe correct behavior
Here’s a bit from gotquestions.org – “According to the Bible, correct doctrine will lead to correct behavior, but the doctrine comes first. Romans 12:1, Titus 3:8, Ephesians 2: 8–10
https://www.gotquestions.org/orthopraxy-orthopraxis.html
Where do we find ourselves today in the UMC? We have divorced belief from behavior. Let me tell you who is to blame – YOU & ME! Return with me to the 1960s and 70s – folks wanted to have sex outside of marriage - we “winked” and said behavior described as sinful in God’s Word is ok – as long as you love the person. Today, folks want us to “wink” and say it’s ok for a man to have a sexual relationship with another man or a woman with a woman or three people (a throuple). They say – as long as you love the person. Wonder where they learned that?
Rev. Adam Hamilton “3 buckets” (Making Sense of the Bible, 2014)
1 - biblical passages that “reflect the timeless will of God for human beings” - 10 Commandments
2 - passages that “reflect God’s will in a particular time but not for all time” - worship/animal sacrifice in the Tabernacle
3 - passages that “reflect the culture and historical circumstances in which they were written but never reflected God’s timeless will” - that means “written by men so we can discard it”
(Rev. Cabe Matthews) - https://firebrandmag.com/articles/the-center-cannot-hold
All sexual practices that are outside the marriage of one (born biological) man and one (born biological) woman are referred to as “sexual immorality” (pornea) in God’s Word. Matthew 15:19 - fornications = pornea = what we said was ok after the 1960s
Grace and God’s Discipline v. 41-48
If you are receiving discipline from God, you deserve it and if you are receiving grace from God, you don’t deserve it!
Will be commended by the master as faithful and wise when He returns? We will be held accountable for our beliefs and our behavior – as well as how we transmit them to the generations that follow. Amen.
