To Whom Much is Given, Much Will be Required

Church Family: Has the thought of Jesus coming back changed anything you have done this past week? Has that truth stopped you from saying or doing something? Has that truth prompted you to say or do something? Has that truth changed your priorities? Has it disrupted your schedule? It is very easy to lose the eternal perspective that Jesus created this universe, and He is coming back to make it new again. Losing an eternal perspective can lead us to live a life flourishing in self-centeredness. There is a date and time on God’s calendar that says, “Jesus Christ’s Return – Making All Things New.”

In Luke 12:35-48, Jesus takes a moment to remind His disciples and us that He is coming back to usher the end of the age as we know it. This is what our hope is built upon, the expectation of the return of a person, Jesus Christ. This is a reality that is easy to push to the back of our minds as our lives are filled with real events and needs and responsibilities today. The kids must be fed and there has to be money in the bank to feed them and yet we have an appointment with our Lord Jesus Christ at His return. It is a constant struggle to keep this eternal mindset.

Jesus knows this struggle very well, so He gives us a parable to teach us how to live within our own diligently set calendar with an eternal mindset. Beware, this is a weighty parable with great implications. Jesus tells you to look at your life as a servant whose master has gone away to a wedding feast and will return at an unknown time. He is coming home later, and you do not know when. In this parable you are a servant who has been given responsibilities of service within the master’s house. As a servant, Jesus makes it clear that you have some freedom while the master is away at the wedding feast. You can neglect your servant duties or you can be diligent in your servitude eagerly waiting for the return of the master. With heaviness, Jesus reminds us that the master will return with accountability for how we have lived as servants of the master. The faithful servants of the master receive the blessing of the master actually serving them. The master will dress himself as a servant, and he will have the faithful servants recline at the table with him, and he will come and wait on them. However, the master also brings heavy judgment on those servants who squandered the master’s call to serve.

We as Christ’s servants willingly submit to Jesus as Lord and Master, setting aside personal rights and ambitions in order to love, obey, and do His will. We have been given gifts and knowledge from God that bring responsibility and accountability to serve Him by serving others while we eagerly wait for His return. We have been highly favored by God in Christ as His servants, endowed with special knowledge and spiritual privileges. Jesus says that we will all be held accountable in our faithfulness or neglect of serving within what has been given to us. “To whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48). Being a servant of the Master, Jesus Christ, must saturate everything you do in life. Servanthood will disrupt your calendar. This is a call for all of us as His servants not to become complacent in our servanthood while anticipating Jesus return.

How has the Master called you to serve Him? Will you be found faithful eagerly waiting His return?

See you Sunday, serving alongside with you: Steve