Sermon - February 21, 2016 - Matthew 24:45-51 - Be Alert - Be Faithful

Two weeks ago we finished off with Jesus talking about His second coming. We saw how no one would be surprised and that there was no way anyone would miss it. Many will not see the signs of what is happening, just like those who missed the very obvious sign of Noah building that huge ark. Some will be taken up to be with Jesus and others will be left behind for the coming judgement.

The main take away for those of us alive today, since we won’t be here for Jesus’ Second Coming is that we need to stay alert.

Matthew 24:42-44

“⁴² Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ This is why you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

We need to stay faithful to Jesus through everything. We don’t know when our days are up, we don’t know who is watching, we don’t know what will try to push Jesus off of the throne of our heart. We need to stay alert. The timing will catch us off guard, but we need to continue to make sure our hearts, minds, and our lives are exactly where God wants them.

One of my prayers is:

Psalm 25:4

“Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths.”

I pray that God makes His ways known to me and guides me down the path He wants me to follow.

We need to be living our lives fully for God and letting Him lead the way so that we are doing exactly what He created us to do. If we are living for God our desires are aligned with the purpose, He created us for. If we are doing what we were created to do, we will be following His path.

Living like that will ensure we will not be caught unaware by the thief. We will not fall away, we will not be lead astray, instead we will be ready when the time comes. Whether it is the rapture, our death, or the Second Coming of Jesus, none want to be caught unaware.

That is one of the reasons we are looking at the end times, through the teachings of Jesus. So that we understand the times we live in and so that we are not caught unaware.

After Jesus was telling everyone that they need to be ready, He went on to talk about service.

Matthew 24:45-51

⁴⁵ “Who then is a faithful and sensible slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded. ⁴⁷ I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards,⁵⁰ that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In these verses Jesus is telling us what it means to be ready. He does not expect believers alive today or living through the tribulation to just sit on their hands and watch for His return. There is so much more for us to do. Jesus has given us a job and we need to be doing it every day of our lives.

A tale of two servants, one who does what he is supposed to do and the other who does not. To start, what do they have in common?

Both of these servants have been given some level of responsibility. They have been put in charge of their master’s household. Sounds to me that they would be like a Butler, who is in charge of all of the other workers in the house. They don’t control everything that belongs to their master but they are responsible to keep everyone on task.

The question I have when reading this is Jesus talking about two people who say they are followers of His or just any two people. After all every person created was given the task to rule over the earth and all the creatures on it. At least that is what we were told in Genesis. For some reason that just feels hollow to me. The word ‘servant’ coming from Jesus mouth, seems to me, that He is to referring to people who are following in His footsteps. Or has at least claimed to be following Him.

Matthew 20:28

“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life – a ransom for many.”

Jesus called every believer to be a servant. So the good and wicked servants could have very well both been believers. One stayed faithful and did what he was supposed to do. The other was either never a true servant of Jesus’ or was tempted by the things of the world and lost his way. Either way, he was not faithful in carrying out his duties.

Two servants a faithful one and a wicked one.

Let’s talk about the faithful servant.

Matthew 24:45-47

⁴⁵ “Who then is a faithful and sensible slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded. ⁴⁷ I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions.”

In Jesus’ example we find the faithful servant who takes care of the people around him. He makes sure they have food and is right there with them working to get the job done. This is what we expect from the people we work with, it is what we expect from our children or grandchildren when they have chores to do when we are not around, and it is what God expects from all believers. Regardless if they are alive today or during the tribulation.

So what does it mean to be faithful?

Micah 6:8

“Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you; to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Our desires should be to live like this every single day. But what does this look like?

Matthew 22:36-40

³⁶ “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷ He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.³⁸ This is the greatest and most important command. ³⁹ The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

If we are being faithful, we are to Love God and Love Others.

What is one way we do that?

Matthew 28:18-20

“¹⁸ Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

If we are being like the faithful servant, we are going out of our way to make disciples.

James 1:27

“²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Being faithful and showing love for others, would be to care for those who do not have enough or who cannot care for themselves.

Ephesians 2:8-10

“⁸ For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹ not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”

Our salvation is the gift of grace we are given through faith, but we were ‘created in Christ Jesus for good works’.

Being faithful means we are doing what we were created to do. First and foremost is loving God, which is followed by loving others. That takes so many forms and for each of us it will look differently but at the core of it, we will be sharing God’s gift of grace, we will be reaching out to those in need, and we will be actively serving others.

The faithful servant of Jesus day, did what he was supposed to. Faithful servants of today and during the tribulation need to be doers of the Word.

James 1:22-25

“²² But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works—this person will be blessed in what he does.”

The faithful servant will be blessed, but that is not the case for the wicked one.

Matthew 24:48-51

^“48 But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards,⁵⁰ that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The wicked servant is the one who loves the things of the world, more than the things of God. He does not put God above all things, he does not love his fellow man, he does not care for those in need, and he obviously is not one whose faith drives him to do the good words that Jesus created for him to do.

We also see here that the wicked servant does not see the signs of his masters return. He is so caught up in his life and the pursuit of pleasure that he does not know that judgement is coming. A judgement that will be eternal, a judgement that there will be no turning back from, a judgement that means he will never be in the presence of Jesus.

The message is clear for us today and for those living during the tribulation.

First be alert and pay attention to signs around you. Do not be caught like those in Noah’s day or like the wicked servant. Know the signs to watch for, pay attention to the isolation of Israel, pay attention for when the Third Temple of God is desolated.

The second is to be faithful. Live out your faith. Do the works that God has created for you to do. Love God. Love Others. Tell everyone you meet about the amazing gift of grace you have received and so much more.

Every believer, regardless of when in history they are living needs to be Alert and be Faithful. 

Thank you for reading and God Bless!

Robert