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Well, good morning. As Glenn mentioned, my name is Ben. I'm here this morning with Hannah and Theo. I think they made it downstairs. And we live and work in Halifax, and I'm on staff at Christchurch Halifax. On behalf of our church, I wanted to let you know that we are praying for you guys as you search for your next pastor. And we're also praying for Don. Don has filled in for us on several occasions preaching, and he's also presided for us over the Lord's Supper on numerous occasions when Michael couldn't be there. And so we were saddened to hear of his heart attack, and we're praying for him and his wife Lois and for a quick and speedy recovery as he undergoes surgery tomorrow. If you have your Bible, let me invite you to turn to Luke chapter 12. We're going to be looking this morning at verses 35 to 48. And if you don't have your Bible, the text will be on the screen just over my shoulder. In the first verses of Luke's gospel, Luke tells us that he writes his gospel so that you and I can have certainty regarding the things of Christ. In Luke chapter 12, we see more and more about who this Jesus is, what his claims are, and how we're called to live in response to them. Jesus in this chapter, he's speaking actually quite strongly about the focus of our lives, and he's saying something about how we live in light of the age to come as it relates to our time, our money, our resources, all of these things. And he's teaching us to use these things for God's enduring kingdom, because the truth is Christ will return. He's coming back. And we find in our passage today that Christ is telling us, he's warning us that he will return to judge all peoples and that we must be ready. We must live now in light of that reality. The focus of our lives must be on Christ himself. So let me pray for us, and then we'll read our passage this morning, Luke 12, 35 to 48. Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, so often we fill our minds and our time with essentially junk food, investing in and focusing on things that are fleeting and are ultimately worthless. Help us now to see your word as the true treasure that it is. Give us minds and ears and hearts to hear and to receive what you've written. You call us in your word to be more like Christ, and so we ask by your spirit and through your word that you would make us more like him. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Luke 12, 35 to 48. Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them awake, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Peter said, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all? And the Lord said, who then is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, my master is delayed in coming, and he begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect him. In an hour, he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much they will demand the more. This is the word of the Lord. Well, summer, it officially began this past Friday. But as I was thinking about this passage, I actually had a Christmas movie on my mind. In the Christmas classic, Home Alone, eight-year-old Kevin McAllister is accidentally left home alone as his family travels to Paris for a Christmas family vacation. Now, if you've seen the movie, you'll know that unfortunately for Kevin, the McAllister's house had long been a target of two robbers, Marv and Harry. They call themselves the Wet Bandits. And they saw this family vacation as the perfect opportunity to rob the McAllister household. Now, fortunately for Kevin, he overhears a very important discussion between Marv and Harry where they discuss the exact time that they are going to break into the McAllister household. 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve. With this incredibly important information, Kevin begins to get ready. He knows Marv and Harry, these robbers, the Wet Bandits are coming, and so he needs to be ready. Kevin, he spends the entire day. He sets up elaborate traps and obstacles in his home and around the property in order to be ready when Marv and Harry come. He's hoping that his efforts would be enough to catch or at least to deter this set of thieves. Kevin knows he must be ready. 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve. In our passage this morning, Jesus is commanding us to be ready. He is coming, and he wants each one of us to be prepared. He calls you and I to begin preparing for that day right now. Because unlike little eight-year-old Kevin McAllister, we do not know when that day will be. We do not know when Christ will return, and so we must be ready. We must live faithfully now in light of Christ's return. In our passage today in Luke chapter 12, Jesus shares with us two parables to help us see and help us understand what this means for us to be ready. We're going to look at each of these parables that both emphasize this command, and we'll call the first one watchful waiting, and then the second parable wise stewardship. So watchful waiting, the first, and then wise stewardship. And so we'll jump in right away to the first parable, watchful waiting. Jesus begins this parable with two commands. He tells us stay dressed for action. That's the first command, and the second one keep your lamps burning. And Jesus says that by doing these two things, you are like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and when he knocks. Right now in those days it was customary to wear long flowing robes, which of course would make it very difficult to move quickly, to run, to get into action. Unless of course you first raised up your robe above your knees so you could run quickly. Right, this is a phrase that we actually see throughout Scripture where men are told to gird up their loins as they prepare for some labor activity or a call into battle. Jesus in this command, he says be ready, be dressed for action. And he says then to keep your lamps burning. Now in those days there was no electricity, and so in the sunset you had to light a lamp in order to see in the darkness, and you had to ensure that you had enough oil in your lamp to keep that lamp burning for as long as you needed it late into the night. And so Jesus tells them be dressed for action. Keep your lamps burning. And when you do this you are like men waiting for their master who's coming home from a wedding feast. Now in those days similarly to today weddings ran late into the night. But what was different about weddings then was that often the servants, or actually people in the wedding party, would stay up late with their lamps burning, waiting for the master or for the bridegroom to return home. This way when the master or the bridegroom returned he'd have light and safety as he navigated his way into the house in the middle of the night. These servants, they would stay up. They'd be dressed for action, right, dressed with their robes in the right place, and they'd have their lamps lit, burning, ready, waiting for their master to return. This could be in the first watch of the night just after the sun goes down, or it could be in the third watch of the night before the sun rises. But whenever it would be these servants would be ready. They would be dressed for action with their lamps burning. What we see here then is a call for God's people to watchful waiting. He's telling us be ready. How? Through watchful waiting. This is an exhortation to be in a constant state of preparation as we await the master's return. We're called to watchful waiting. Again unlike little Kevin, Macalester, we don't know the exact time when Christ will return. Now this is what verse 40 tells us, right, it says that Jesus is coming back at an hour you do not expect. Now this is not a call, as others have done, for us to try to deduce when Christ will return. The point here is not for us to get out our calculators and our calendars and kind of open up an investigation and see if we can figure out when this date will come. No, Jesus tells us no one can know. Here we're being called instead to live in a particular way. Watchful waiting. And this watchful waiting, I like the second parable we'll look at shortly, this watchful waiting has service at its heart. All throughout these two parables, this theme of servanthood, sacrificial service, it comes up over and over and over again. The call here to watchful waiting has service and sacrifice at its heart. Watchful waiting means committing ourselves and our lives to serving our master, dedicating our lives to prepare for his return. See, be dressed, ready to serve, light your lamps. It's talking about an attitude that pervades the way that you and I approach life. That you're always ready to be serving the purposes of Christ and his coming kingdom. Just a few verses actually before our passage today. Jesus, he's speaking about his coming kingdom and our verses this morning are not a departure from that same theme. It's actually a continuation, right? Where Jesus Christ is calling us to reorientate our lives around his kingdom, his coming kingdom and his purposes. To call us to live not for ourselves, striving not for our own greatness or for our own name, but laboring for the good of God's kingdom, of his glory, of his name. And so we learn here that watchful waiting, it's an active waiting, it's a purposeful waiting. This is the life of service lived for the glory of God and for the glory of God's kingdom. Right? He is coming back. Be ready, stay dressed for action, keep your lamps burning. Jesus, he tells us right after these commands that obedience to them actually comes with a promise. Amazingly, we're told here that for those whom the master finds awake when he comes, that the master himself will come and he will serve them. Tells us that they'll feast together with the master as the servant. This master doesn't come home, you know, middle of the night bards through the door and demands to be served. He doesn't say I'm hungry, you know, where's my food? Get me my stuff. Let me put my feet up. No, not at all. This master says be at peace. Sit down. Let me serve you. How many of us, you know, we've come home from a long day of work, maybe a late night or a long trip. How many of us want to simply just put our feet up? All right. The last thing on our mind is, you know, thinking about cooking, cleaning, inviting a whole bunch of people into your house. All right. It's in these times that we desperately want to be served. But the master in our parable is not like us. He says, blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table and he will come and serve them. J.C. Ryle, he calls this one of the most wonderful promises in the New Testament because in it we see that there is no degree of honor and glory which Jesus will not bestow on those who are found ready to meet him when he comes. We don't know the hour, he says, when that will be, he will come like a thief in the night. But until that time, we're called to watchful waiting. Jesus tells us, you must be ready for the Son of Man is coming. Christ himself, at an hour you do not expect. In this first parable, this is what we see, that we are called to watchful waiting, service to the master's plans and to the master's purposes, living for God's kingdom. And in living this kind of life, we're told that we'll encounter a master who himself is far more generous, kind, gracious, loving, and patient than we could imagine. Now as Jesus, he finishes telling this parable, it seems that at least some of the disciples are still a little bit unsure about what Jesus is saying. Jesus here is talking about his return and yet he is still here with the disciples. And so Peter, he asks a question, right? He's wondering, Jesus, are you telling this parable for us, right? Your closest followers or is this for everyone? Peter's asking, what are you getting at here, Jesus? Who are you talking to? Or are you telling us to be ready? But so often as Jesus does, he doesn't give Peter a straight answer. He chooses to answer Peter's question with another parable, our second parable, and we'll call this one wise stewardship. To answer Peter's question, Jesus tells another parable and this parable contrasts a wise manager and a foolish manager. The wise manager, the faithful manager, he manages his household well. In the master's absence, he ensures that everything runs smoothly, that the people are well fed and at the proper time and that things get taken care of in the house. Now I don't know if you noticed, but our Old Testament reading in Genesis 39, it actually gave us a picture of a wise and faithful manager. Joseph, right? Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. He was sold into slavery and eventually taken to Egypt and Joseph starts as a servant in Potiphar's house and despite his lowly role, Joseph remains faithfulness, right? Joseph's faithfulness is wise management. It actually distinguishes him from the others, right? He's seen as a wise manager and that Joseph is given increasing responsibility as he proves himself trustworthy. So much so that we read in chapter 39 verse 6 that Potiphar left all that he had in Joseph's charge and because of him Potiphar had no concern about anything except that the food he ate. Now I don't know if you've ever been in a position where you've had to delegate work to someone with your reputation on the line, but when you find someone who can do your work, almost better than you could do it yourself, right? Someone that you can trust in and rely on to get the job done, you know, on time and on budget. This is a rare and wonderful gift, right? The way that Joseph handles himself, it's rare, right? We don't so often see this wise and faithful care and yet this is exactly the command that Jesus is telling to us, right? Be ready. When he asks that, he's telling us to be like the wise and the faithful manager. What we see in this command is that if the first parable emphasized being ready by serving the master himself, right? This second parable emphasizes wise stewardship through the service of God's people or we could even say, you know, God's fellow servants. Christ here, he's calling you and I to use what gifts he's given us in such a way as to bless other people, to serve others, right? To be wise steward of what God has entrusted to us is to use our time, our money, our resources, all that God has given us to serve those around us, right? Ultimately, so that they themselves might know and experience the incredible love and care of this master, Jesus Christ. Jesus says, blessed is the one whom the master will find so doing when he comes and Jesus says that in this case, he will set the manager over all the master's possessions, over all things and over all of his people, right? The manager's good work leads to more blessing. His faithful and wise stewardship will lead to the master blessing with more opportunity to serve, more responsibility and ultimately greater purpose and responsibility. Now on the other hand, a foolish manager, when his master is delayed, the foolish manager begins by beating his servants. He mistreats them, he takes advantage of them and then indulges in the pleasures of this world, right? We read that he'll eat, he'll drink and he'll get drunk. As one commentator notes, here's a manager who's put in charge of everything and yet he begins to operate with a false sense of ownership and independence, right? He begins to act not like a manager, but like an owner and he begins to say this stuff is mine, right? It belongs to me and I get to do what I want to with it and he begins to practice real self-indulgence. He ignores accountability. He says, my master, he's not here, he's not coming and he treats what belongs to his master as if it were his own, even to the point of beating and abusing his master's servants. In other words, all that the master has, this foolish servant, this foolish manager treats as if it were his own. Now I think you and I have probably seen this before, right? At times it feels like foolish managers are far more common than wise managers. A manager that forces his employees to do the hard jobs while they're slacking off, taking off early and even while at work, giving the difficult, the tough jobs to the staff. Foolish managers, they quickly begin to see that what has been entrusted to them, they see it as their own, right? They say mine. And I think the reality is that this is more common because we can be like this, right? We say mine. I say mine. Whether it's our time or our money or our work or any other resource or gift that God has given to you, we so often see them as our own. And when we treat them as our own, we act no different than the foolish manager. And we're told here that the master, he will return when the foolish manager does not expect it. At an hour he does not know and he will be judged and punished accordingly. Now maybe if you're following, your question might be this. What does any of this have to do with Peter's question? Right, remember Jesus told his disciples in the first parable to be ready, be dressed for action, keep your lamps burning. And Peter's question to this was, who are you talking to Jesus? Right, who needs to be ready? Well, Jesus answer through this parable tells us that Jesus was speaking in one sense, you could say to everyone, but he was speaking with particular force to those who have been entrusted with much and from whom then much will be required. Jesus explains for us in that text that the servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to it will be judged severely. But the one who did not know and did still what deserved a beating will receive a lighter beating or will receive lighter judgment. Jesus says everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required and from whom they entrusted much they will demand more. Jesus is saying, he's answering to Peter, yes, these words, sure they're for everyone but they are given with greater force to those who have been given much. Now, I think it would be hard for us to make an argument that most of us would not fall into this category of being entrusted with a lot. I think we've been entrusted with an incredible amount. I don't think it's wise for us to compare ourselves against one another, but it is worth asking the question, what have you been entrusted with? What have you been entrusted with? Of course, all our backgrounds, our situations, they're all different, yet each one of us lives at a time with more access to the Bible and faithful biblical preaching than any other time in history. Many of us, I'm sure, have multiple Bibles in our homes, right, a luxury unthinkable merely 500 years ago. You and I, we also live in a time that the Bible calls the last days, a time after Christ's first coming yet before his second coming where we can know and read about Jesus and his life and his death in resurrection. We have this account in the gospel of Luke and through Jesus's life, death, resurrection, we're told of the promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life for all who believe. See, we have access to this truth and to this story in a way that so many people before us have not had, and those are just the spiritual blessings. We live in one of the richest countries in the history of the world with more resources at our fingertips than ever before. You know, grocery stores with, you know, essentially every food imaginable year round, no less, just steps from each one of our doors. Health care, education, accessible to almost everyone, transportation, communication, that means we can travel across the globe anywhere we want and communicate with every corner of the earth almost instantaneously. See, we have been given much and from us much will be demanded. And so Jesus, he's telling us here, he's telling his disciples, be wise stewards with what I've given you, right? Live faithfully as you await my return. You do not know when it's going to happen. And so you must stay dressed for action. Keep your lamps burning. Manage what I've entrusted to you well in a way that honors and serves the master and his people. Watch with weight with weight with watchfulness. Steward your gifts wisely, serve God and serve his people. What we see in our passage this morning and in fact, throughout the entirety of Luke chapter 12 is what it says in Psalm 24, right? That what we own is not ultimately our own. The world and all that is in it belongs to God. And now as his people, we are called to serve him and God's people by faithfully and wisely stewarding the gifts that he has given to us. Right? God hasn't given things as gifts to an end in and of themselves, right? He's given to them. He's given them to us so that we might use them for the good of his kingdom and for the good of his people. Jesus here, he wants us to lift our eyes from our self-centered navel gazing and fix our eyes on Christ and his coming kingdom. Be ready. Steward your gifts wisely, live faithfully in light of Christ's return. Commit to watchful waiting and wise stewardship as Christ calls us to because he is returning at a time that you and I cannot know. Our passage, it tells us that the consequences for failing to do so are grave. This passage is most certainly a warning to each one of us. Jesus himself, he paints a gruesome picture of the reality that awaits the foolish manager. He says in our text that the master of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect him. In an hour he does not know and he will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. Now that's a jarring image and commentators agree that this is a metaphorical image but the point is no less severe. That the punishment, the judgment from God is severe. This person will be judged along with the unfaithful and cast out from Christ and cast out from his presence and from his kingdom. The master, he's returning and he promises blessing for those who are ready but he promises judgment on those who have persisted in their foolishness. Now we don't know when this day will come but we are called to be ready. Maybe you're here today and maybe you feel like you've been a foolish manager. You know maybe you feel whether you're young, whether you're old, whether you're somewhere in between, like you've squandered the gifts that God has given you. It could be money that you've squandered. It could be relationships, marriages, family, friendships. It could be time that you've squandered, your reputation or your skills or your integrity or maybe the trust that someone put in you. It could be that you've squandered opportunities to boldly proclaim your faith in a world that desperately needs it. But whatever it is, in one sense you sense rightly that you've squandered these gifts that God has given you. And maybe you're here today and you wonder, can I be ready for his return? How can I be someone who God is calling me to be? Someone who's ready, who's dressed for action, someone who's ready for Christ's return? Well the good news of the gospel is that everyone who puts their hope and trust in Christ, who turns to him for salvation, is clothed with the righteousness of Christ and the light of life now dwells in you. You have been dressed, your lamp has been lit and you are ready for action. See Christ himself on the cross, he takes our sin upon himself and he clothes us in his righteousness. See we're dressed for action because God has clothed us with his righteousness and now the oil in your lamp will never run dry, it will never run out because you've been sealed as his own by the Holy Spirit. There is hope, there is hope for people who have squandered his gifts, people like you and I, because we have a gracious and generous master. We have a master who serves, a master who we read later in the gospel stoops low enough to even wash his disciples feet, a master who stoops low enough to take our foolishness, everything we've squandered upon himself, right, who at the cross and the ultimate act of service gives his own life so that through his work we may be deemed ready and worthy for his return. And in light of this gracious, generous work of our master Christ himself, we, you and I are called to live and center our lives on Christ and his coming kingdom. We now today are called to watchful waiting, to be wise stewards, we are called to be ready, we must live and love in light of Christ's gift to us. Because if we don't, we prove ourselves to be among the unfaithful, we prove ourselves to be among the foolish. Now this isn't Jesus plus works, this is rightfully living in response to the lordship of Christ and the gift of salvation that Christ has earned for us. If you've claimed God's gospel promises as your own, you're called to be ready, to be dressed for action, to keep your lamps burning. The master is returning and how we live our lives as evidence that Christ's kingdom and his purposes have taken hold in your heart. If you're here today and not yet a Christian, let me invite you to repent of your sins, believe the good news of Jesus Christ, this generous, merciful and sacrificial master. He is returning, make no doubt, or he will take you home at a time that you and I cannot know. Will you be ready when he comes? Will you be ready to meet him face to face? The call for each one of us is this, be ready, watchfully wait, steward your gifts wisely. Christ is coming, live faithfully as you await his return. Let's pray.