Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 12. Luke 12. We are going to be looking at a passage today where Jesus talks about his second coming and what we should do in the mean time.

But I need to warn you that this passage is very heavily dependent on understanding some things about ancient culture that are no longer true today. So as you read it, some things may seem harsh and even offensive - and other things might not make sense. So we are going to have to put ourselves in Bible times for a few minutes to understand the message Christ has for us in this passage.

This week on twitter (I refuse to call it X) I saw an interesting thing. The tweet was a picture of Henry Ford and it said something like 'Henry Ford is responsible for the 40 hour work week.' Underneath that tweet was the top reply, it was someone saying "Everybody boo that man."

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Now only someone completely ignorant of history would say that. Because before Henry Ford came along, do you know what people were working? They were working six days a week, 10-12 hour days.

So the reason Ford is praised for the 40 hour work week is because it was a huge improvement from the 72 hour work week that was the norm at the time.

I bring that up because people have a tendency to assume things are always like they are right now, and read history with a modern lens - and not only is that not fair, but it keeps you from properly understanding what you are reading.

In our text today we have at least six different cultural things we have to understand.

• The role of servants in the ancient world.
• The concept of households.
• The role of stewards.
• How ancient weddings worked.
• How servants were punished.
• What it means to have your loins girded.

Let me give you a quick overview of this for context, and then we'll jump into our text.

In the ancient world, there were very few of what we would call businesses or corporations. Most people lived in worked in what was called a household. That household basically had four levels in it.

One you had the owner of the household - who was called the master or lord of the household. This was usually the Father of the family.

Second you had his children and immediate family.

Third, you had a manager or a steward. This was the owner's right hand man who took care of his books and ran the business for him. But the steward was still a servant.

Finally, you had common servants. They would usually work for the master for a set number of years and their whole life was serving the household during that time.

So they didn't really have employers and employees, they had masters and servants. And if you were a servant, the household was your whole life. You lived there, you ate there, you worked there. It was everything.

Now, the other thing you have to understand is that a master in the ancient world had absolute authority over his servants. A master could do almost anything he wanted to to his servants and it was legal - he could even beat them and in some cases kill them. This was totally normal, expected behavior.

Now, with that in mind. Let's read our text today.

[!bible] Luke 12:35-48 - KJV 35. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 36. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. 38. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. 40. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. 41. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? 42. And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? 43. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 44. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. 45. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46. The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47. And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The main message of this section is this:

Jesus is coming back and we need to be ready. Jesus will reward the servants who are working, watching and waiting for Him and punish the servants (especially the leaders) who are selfishly taking advantage of his long absence.

So I want to cover three points today:

1. We need to be ready.
2. We need to be serving.
3. There will be consequences if we abuse Christ's absence.

Let's pray and we'll get into our message today.

The first thing I think Jesus was telling us here is:

1. We need to be ready

When Jesus said "let your loins be girded and your lights be burning." He was basically saying, be ready.

In the ancient world, a wedding wasn't like a wedding today. They lasted for days with no set schedule. They also didn't have phones or email. So it wasn't like the master could check in on his servants while he was at the wedding.

So if the master went to a wedding, he could be gone for days - and what were the servants supposed to do? Jesus said "keep your loins girded and your lights on."

In Jesus' day, everyone wore these long robes that almost dragged the floor. Lots of fabric. If you were trying to work and move quickly, all that fabric would get in the way. So they all also wore a sash around their waste, like a belt, and when it was time to work, they would tuck their robes into their belt. Basically turning their robe into a pair of shorts.

So Jesus was saying here - keep your work clothes on and keep the lights on so when the master comes home you can meet him at the door with a smile on your face and say "We've been waiting for you, let me take your coat and let me wash your feet. You must be so tired."

Let's be honest - this isn't how it would normally work. Normally, if the master came home at 3am, he would expect the lights to be off and the servants to be in bed. But these extraordinary servants were ready and waiting for their master to come home.

And the master rewarded them by becoming their servant and serving them - something that was unheard of in Jesus' day.

So what is the message - the master might be gone awhile, but be ready, be waiting, be anticipating his return. Don't get sloppy. Don't get lax. Be ready.

Jesus gave a second example and it is the example of a homeowner who is getting burgled. If you know a thief is coming, you are going to prepare for the thief. Maybe you stay home. Maybe you add locks to the doors. Maybe you get an attack poodle. But you prepare for the thief if you know he's coming.

But Jesus says none of us know when the thief is coming - that's the whole point. We don't know the hour, so we must always be prepared. We must always be ready.

So the idea here in both these stories is to be ready. Well, what are we supposed to be ready for? We are to be ready for the Master's return. Jesus was saying "I'm going away, and I'm going to be gone awhile, but I'm coming back - so be ready."

Now, we don't talk enough about the return of Christ, but the Bible sure does.

• Do you know that 1 out of every 25 verses in the New Testament talks about the return of Christ?
• There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, and the New Testament mentions the return of Christ 315 times.
• The only books in the whole New Testament that don't mention Christ's return are Galatians (which was super focused on a doctrinal problem) and 2 and 3rd John (which were very short personal letters.)

Jesus has ascended into heaven. But He is coming back, and we have to be ready.

You might look at a passage like this and think "(yawn) prophecy" - but this isn't just prophecy this is describing the character and mindset of our whole job as Christians.

We could go to so many passages about this but I want you to turn with me to Acts 1 for a second. Acts 1.

This passage shows us the very last thing we see Jesus doing on this earth. He's talking to His disciples, then he ascends into heaven.

[!bible] Acts 1:8-11 - KJV 8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11. Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

So Jesus - the master - gives His servants their orders. He tells them what work He wants them to do - then ascends into heaven right in front of them. They are all looking up into the sky like "what happened?" And the angels speak to them and say "Hello, He's coming back. Get to work."

And that leads me to the second point in this passage I want to talk about today and that is...

2. We need to be serving

In verse 41 of our passage Peter asks a question. Now Peter asked a lot of dumb questions. This wasn't one of them. Peter basically asked in this verse "Jesus, is this message for us or is this for the crowd?"

And Jesus didn't directly answer Peter, but he did respond. Jesus did change the metaphor a little bit. He changed it from servants to stewards. And this suggests that Jesus was saying "This is for everyone, but it is especially for you."

Remember, stewards were sort of chief servants. They were trusted servants who got more responsibility and more more freedom and more privileges.

And so Jesus says imagine the master is gone, and the steward, the manager, has been told to take care of things while he is gone and to feed his household. What is the master going to look for when he comes back? He wants the steward to be doing what he told him to do - taking care of the house and feeding the household.

The steward would make sure people got their meals and they got them on time. That was their main service. And the master expected them to do be doing it when he returned. Spiritually speaking, this means faithfully doing what God has called you to do - using whatever gifts, position, or influence He's given you to serve His purposes.

Listen, Jesus is coming back, and do you know what He wants to find you doing? He wants to find you ready, and He wants to find you serving. He wants to see you doing the thing He has given you responsibility over:

• if you are a pastor that means faithfully preaching and caring for the flock.
• if you are a father that means spiritually leading and providing for your family.
• if you are a mother it means taking care of your household and raising your children.
• if you are an aged woman, it means pouring into the younger woman.
• if you are a worker that means being a good testimony by doing what you do "as unto the Lord."
• if you are a church member it means serving your fellow church members and encouraging them to walk with the Lord.
• if you are a Christian it means being a witness for him and being faithful to serve Him.

You can't say "I didn't know what to do" - God has given you orders. You have a whole book of them here. And Jesus wants to see you still doing them when He comes back, even if it is very, very late.

Most of us can remember a time when we were kids or teenagers when our parents went out and gave us chores to do. Get these done before we get back.

And what did we do? We probably sat around and did whatever we wanted, then when we saw Mom's car pull into the driveway, we frantically started doing the dishes.

Jesus has gone away, He is coming back, and what He wants from us to is be busy in His service, getting ready for His return.

So the first lesson of this passage is we need to be ready, the second is we need to be watching. But there is a third lesson - which amplifies the first two.

The third lesson is

3. There will be consequences if we don't

Now, in our passage, Jesus talks about the steward - the manager - the leader - who while the master is away absolutely abuses his absence and acts like a thief and a tyrant.

• He abuses the servants and beats both the men and women.
• He steals the food for himself.
• He gets drunk on his master's wine.
• He doesn't do his job.

What is going too happen to that guy when the master comes home? Well, look at it verse 46

[!bible] Luke 12:46 - KJV 46. The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

This steward was a crook. This steward was an abuser. He was given authority and position and he used it to hurt people. So the master is going to deal with him very harshly.

Listen, through the years there have been people who masqueraded as Christian leaders who abused God's servants and took things for themselves. I'm thinking of the pastors who steal, the pastors who used their position to abuse the woman in their church, I even know of pastors who have abused children.

How discouraging!

Listen, Jesus is coming back, and he's going to deal with them and he's going to expose them as the frauds they are. They might preach, they might say "thus saith the Lord" - but they are unbelievers and Jesus will cut them to pieces and send them where unbelievers go.

This is shocking, violent language - and Jesus meant it to be. The judgment on false leaders who abuse God's people is severe and final.

But it is not only the unfaithful stewards, the abusive leaders, who will face consequences. It is also the unfaithful servants.

Look at verse 47-48:

[!bible] Luke 12:47 - KJV 47. And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Listen, if you think "Jesus isn't coming back, I'm just going to do my own thing." You will face the Lord some day. He is coming back, or you will face Him when you die - and if you ignore His will there will be consequences.

Look at verse 48

[!bible] Luke 12:48 - KJV 48. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Listen, God is fair. God is just. If you don't know what you are supposed to be doing, there will be fewer consequences. But if you know and you refuse to do, the consequences will be more severe.

And listen, here is what that means for us: Most of you who have been around awhile - you know. You have heard the Bible taught to you week in and week out, month after month, year after year. You know what God wants. You know how God wants your life to change. You know what God wants you to be doing.

You've been given so much, and you know it. Because of that - much will be required.

Conclusion

So what is this passage teaching us?

Jesus could come back at any time. Any time. We don't know the day or the hour. It will be as a thief in the night. When we don't expect it.

So we need to be ready, waiting, anticipating. And we need to be serving.

Not because we're trying to earn our salvation - that's already been purchased by Christ's blood on the cross. But because we love our Master and we want to hear Him say "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Think about what Jesus promises in verse 37 - the Master Himself will dress as a servant and serve those who have been faithful. Can you imagine? The King of Kings waiting on you at His banquet table? That's the reward for watchful, faithful servants.

So let me ask you: If Jesus came back today - right now - what would He find you doing? Would He find you ready? Would He find you faithfully serving in whatever role He's given you? Or would He find you living like He's never coming back?

Don't presume on His patience. Don't abuse His delay. He is coming back. And when He does, there will be rewards for the faithful and consequences for the unfaithful.

The question is not if He's coming - it's are you ready?

Let's pray.