Luke 12:32-48, What Are You Waiting On?

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Luke 12:32-48 What Are You Waiting On?

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Luke, chapter 12, starting verse 32, beginning to verse 48, hear the word of the
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Lord. Fear not, little flock, for it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
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Sell your possessions and give to the needy, provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail or no thief approaches and no moth destroys for where your treasure is.
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There will your heart be also. 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.
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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.
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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.
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You also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Peter said,
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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?
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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.
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But if that servant says to himself, my master is delayed in coming and begins to beat the male and female servants to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.
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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.
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But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.
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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 the
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Lord has blessings, the reading of his holy word. Well, what are you waiting on?
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Raymond, what are you waiting on? He's got a game there he's playing, he's not waiting on anything. I mean, besides me, you're waiting for me to get done so you can get to lunch.
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You can smell that food. Maybe are you waiting on something big to happen to be done with something?
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Maybe before you're going to start living. That's why some people go through life and waiting on something to happen.
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I remember when I was 36 living in Singapore, just having finished a jog and it occurred to me distinctly ever, ever had a thought just occurred to you and you didn't you remember where you were when you thought that I remember distinctly finishing this jog and where I was right near a playground in between these 12, very common in Singapore, these 12 story apartment buildings.
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And I was thought occurred to me. I have two kids, I'm now finished with my
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Ph .D., I I've been waiting almost all my life up to now, been waiting for one more thing to do, another degree to finish double a couple of years doing this or that.
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Now, I'm I'm ready, I better be ready, time to grow up and get start doing what
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I've been waiting on doing. Now, you might have come to that point a lot earlier in life than I did, or maybe maybe you're still waiting, waiting on something to happen.
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You know, I'll get married first or I'll finish college or I'll, you know, wait for the kids to grow up, wait till I'm finally financially secure.
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I'll have enough money in the bank, you know, the kids education paid for retirement provided for then life starts.
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It's like running a race on a track. You've ever done that. You count one lap after another counting laps and then you might suddenly be surprised you've reached the finish line.
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Sometimes we're so focused on what's next, the next lap, the next. Degree, I've got to earn the next big thing,
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I've got to pay off the house, then this, the car, and then it's something else, the next problem I've got to solve, the next need to be met.
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That we don't see life is happening right now, not going to happen after you do the next thing, it's it's happening right now.
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So we miss life now. It's going what's going on right now, and we miss sort of the big picture that we're too busy.
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You've ever done a jigsaw puzzle, too busy putting the next piece in, you forget what the end result is supposed to look like, the beautiful scene our life is supposed to be.
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If you if you're always looking for the next step, waiting on the next thing, you don't see what what you're at now, that life is happening right now, nor do you see the big picture at the end where it's all going.
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So what are you waiting on? Put it another way, start all over. Don't forget that, but let's start all over what's urgent.
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Now, what's urgent in your life right now, what do you think is urgent? Just yesterday I was merging on to 86 coming off of Riverside, 86
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South, and then a fire truck, Daniel Danville, lifesaving crews fire truck with his lights on and siren blaring came by.
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And of course, that that's considered urgent. And I have to stop. I have to wait for them to go by.
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And in fact, just a little bit down the road, there was a wreck right in front of the Valero station on the state line.
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That that's urgent getting to those people, helping them. Some people are think right now that there's something urgent going on that they've got to do now before they'll, you know, before life sort of begins or maybe they got to take care of something urgent before they become a
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Christian. Maybe they consider themselves a Christian now already, but they've got to do something urgent right now before the kind of get really serious about God.
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They've got to get married first. That's urgent. Or they got to get the business on his feet. They got to save enough money.
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And until then, until that happens, this urgent thing right now that I got to take care of.
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You know. Then I'll until I solve that, then I'll seek after God for now, though, they'll put dating or work, working, saving, whatever it is, they'll put that first.
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They think and they think that makes sense. After all, God's eternal, so he can wait a little while.
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But right now, what is urgent, what must be done is getting that spouse or getting enough money, being successful, whatever it is.
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God can wait, they think, and then once they do whatever they think is urgent, once that's taken care of, they'll be they'll be glad, they think to themselves, they'll be glad to come to church, maybe get involved, maybe give generously.
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Of course, even if that works, things work according to plan, they do get married and then, you know, they get enough money, they get the house paid off, they get enough savings and to have enough, have a cozy retirement, they feel comfortable and they fact and they really do then come back to church and they finally really do get ready to serve
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God. There's only one problem with that, because the God they will be worshiping.
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Is one who could be put off. For the marriage and for the business, for the cash.
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And that's not the true God, that's why you need to resolve now that you're coming to church, you're you're serving the
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Lord now, you're giving generously now, active now in some way, even if the business has to suffer, even if you have to miss the boy or the girlfriend on Sunday morning, that Jesus is urgent.
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You're going to seek God's kingdom now. Seek that instead of all the other things that other people spend their lives seeking, as we see before this passage, all last week is this passage just kind of continues from that, seek the kingdom of God first before all the things that other people seek, you know, they seek the next big meal, they seek the houses, they seek the cars, the romances or the thrills.
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But if if you fear the problem is so many people fear that they'll be they'll be seeking, they'll be seeking the
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Lord, they'll be working for the Lord, they'll be giving and they'll be sacrificing. You know, you'll have to end up driving a used car because you couldn't afford a new one because you gave so much for the kingdom of God.
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You'll miss dates because you went to your church instead of going to where the date is. You'll be lonely because maybe you wouldn't date or marry a non -Christian.
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You'll have less money in your bank account because you close your business on Sunday morning and you that means you have less money to spend.
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And after all of that, you sacrifice. You're afraid. This is why people don't do it, because they're afraid you sacrifice all that.
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And you still don't have. The kingdom of God, you just don't have God's promises, his blessing.
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God still hasn't given you the kingdom. To that, Jesus says, starting verse thirty two here, fear not, little flock.
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Here's here's what I think is the grand promise. I haven't really seen this until myself preparing for this passage.
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Think of this promise in verse thirty two. This grand promise, this great assurance.
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It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
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I think that's got to be the greatest promise in this book, full of very great and precious promises, because basically it promises you all the other promises.
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Right. So God, the father's will is to give you the kingdom. That he tells you to seek, and it's really not just his will.
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You know, it's the way he puts it. It's his good pleasure. He enjoys doing it.
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He wants to do it. Giving you his rule in your life on earth as it is in heaven is what the father delights to do.
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And he commands us to seek his kingdom. Because he wants to give it to us. So look carefully at that sentence, particularly the verb tenses, every and really every word in that grand promise in verse thirty two, it is now.
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It is. That's now. If you want to know the grammar, it's an heiress verb, which is kind of now present, but not specifically anything.
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But right at this moment is now your father's your father's.
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So this is addressed to people to whom God is their father. Not everybody, but to those people, it's your father's good pleasure.
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It's just it's his preference. It's his inclination. It's his desire.
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And notice to do what to give. So this is not something earned. It's not, you know, it's not something you it's not something to let you buy.
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No, it's to give graciously. And it's an infinitive. This means it's what he wants to do.
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It's something it's a it's an action he wants to take to give you. That's the direct object.
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His children, right? You are the ones receiving what is given, which is.
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The kingdom, the thing given now in light of this great the great command, first to seek his kingdom, and then there's this grand assurance that the father is eagerly wanting to give it to us.
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In light of that, how are we to live? What's the impact of that grand promise on us?
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Well, there's three major impacts, three implications, three applications. First, store.
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Second, stay. And finally, steward to store, stay and steward first store your treasure in heaven.
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Now, some people think they need to store a treasure in their bank accounts first. That's urgent before they'll seek
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God. But Jesus says that's all mixed up. Now you got it all turned around. Trust God for the other things the nations seek and instead store up a treasure in heaven that does not fail where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
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Perfectly safe there. And you do that. He tells us how in verse thirty three. By selling your possessions.
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And giving to the needy. In other words, you care more about meeting the needs of needy people than you do about your need.
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For that new car, that TV, that vacation, that that stuff you have. That's how you store up treasure in heaven.
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Right. So what he says, verse thirty three, you can read it yourself. Now, notice you have to do it.
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OK, it didn't say want to. He didn't say want to sell everything and, you know, aspire to sell everything.
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Wish you could sell some of your stuff. Now, preachers love clever sayings. They kind of take the teeth out of that command.
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You know, it's OK to it's OK to own things as long as they don't own you. And that's kind of true.
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But that's really not what Jesus says, is it? But again, in it communicates when people say that kind of stuff, that really all we need is an attitude, you know, of mind or a doctrine.
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As long as we kind of confess we have the doctrine that everything belongs to God. We have the attitude that we wish we could give a lot of stuff away, but we're not going to as long as we have that there were.
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We're all right. We can hoard as many luxuries as we want. We can splurge on ourselves all we want and then give a token to the church and say the magic confession.
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And we're fine. We're safe. Of course, the truth is, if that's what you think is just attitude, just in theology, what you're going to do is end up congratulating yourself that, you know, my things don't really own me.
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Even though you aren't willing to sell them to give to the needy or maybe today we don't want to sell so much stuff, are you not even willing to deprive yourself of them in the first place?
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It gets right to the point. So you don't have them because you gave so much and you couldn't get them.
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We aren't willing to do that. You know, not have stuff because we gave so much. We couldn't buy the new car and we had to settle for we settled for a used one.
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Notice Jesus's command in verse thirty three. It isn't just to have an attitude. You know, just make just don't make sure the things don't own you.
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I would just if that's what he said, we'd all just be saying, oh, they don't own us, own us. While we jealously guarded every little thing we have.
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His command is to do something. To sacrifice things because of our generosity.
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Now, be careful about this. This is not like what he said to the rich young ruler. Remember, sell everything you have and give to the poor.
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He doesn't say here you have to sell all your possessions, does he? Be careful. He's very specific about what he says. Sell your possessions.
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He doesn't say you have to sell everything you have. But. You have to be willing to sell something.
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We are called to not have some things because of our giving.
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OK, bottom line, that's what it comes to. Means you you do not have you following this. That means practically there's something you kind of wish you could have, but you can't because you instead decided.
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To store up your treasure in heaven. OK, you gave up real material things because you care about other people.
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You made the kingdom of God more urgent than that pricey vacation. So you you you gave then.
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And with what's left over, you kind of had to settle for a cheap staycation. You went to see a movie and went to Chick -fil -A.
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OK, if that's. If you're doing that. Then you're investing in your heavenly bank account.
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If you're not. If there's nothing that you've ever that you've given up, because you're seeking the kingdom of God.
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Are you really seeking the kingdom of God at all? Do you really believe that grand promise that the father wants to give it to you?
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If you do. It will show. If you really believe that our life does not consist of the things that we have, that the father cares for us more than many ravens, he said earlier that he'll dress us better than the flowers, then it will show in you not being full of greed.
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But he also said about the Pharisees earlier in this chapter, they were full of greed and they covered that up with the appearance of religion.
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But instead, it will show if you really believe that grand promise, he wants to give you the kingdom by what you give.
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He wants to give. Do you want to? So now by verse thirty three, Jesus isn't just telling us have an attitude or a right doctrine, you know, say the right creed, get your theological eyes dotted and your teeth crossed.
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It's about what we do, about where our money goes, where our treasure is, what we value, what our checkbook and credit card statements show about what we pay the most for.
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That's where our heart is. And Jesus here is saying. You know, make sure it's others, it's
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God's kingdom. Now, some will say, oh, of course, God really is my treasure.
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I just need to put my money elsewhere for now. You know, I got some urgent I got to pay for now. My treasure, my heart for the time being are separate.
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My treasure is over here. Sure. My heart is over there. My heart's with the Lord, really. I'm waiting for when
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I'm, you know, sometime, sometime soon when I can put my treasure where my heart is. Jesus disagrees.
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It's not going to work out like that. Notice verse thirty four. Carefully, he puts it for where your treasure is right now.
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There will in the not too distant future. Your heart.
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Your affections, what you what you really love, what you're living for there, where your money is right now, there will your heart be.
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Your heart will follow your money. When you're putting your where you're putting your money now, so look at your bank book, look at your credit card statements.
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That's what you'll be living for. You know, your heart is for God. If if that's where you've been storing your treasure by where your money goes.
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Now, people will spend on them. People spend on themselves now because they have no real hope for a treasure in heaven if they don't feel they have anything to wait for there.
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So they might as well take advantage of all now. But if you really believe that grand assurance, it's the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
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If you believe that. Well, of course, you're going to be willing to give to it, aren't you?
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You're going to see it's like an investment. You're you're putting your treasure in a bank that is perfectly insured.
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It's not going to go belly up. Never don't get anything out of it. You know that you're storing it in money bags that will never get a hole in them.
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You trust them. You're putting it out of the reach of thieves and moths. It's the only reasonable thing to do.
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If you believe. If you believe that the father wants to give you the kingdom, then then stay.
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Ready. Starting in verse 35, Jesus tells us to stay dressed for action, have your work clothes on, in other words.
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You know, don't come in your best dress suit that you can't get dirty. Come stay in the kingdom of God.
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Dress. Just for work. You know, jeans that already have stains and holes in them.
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Get ready for that. That's what you come with. And that day now, men would wear these kind of flowing robes.
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But when they had to do some manual labor, they would tuck the robes, you know, in their belt. So nice and tight.
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So it doesn't get in the way of whatever they're doing. They're picking up crops or whatever. They wouldn't get in the way. Now, here,
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Jesus is saying what should say. And then when they work was over, the day's done and they could just untuck the robes and just let them flow and relax.
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Here, Jesus is saying there's no time to relax now. Keep it tucked in.
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You don't let them flow down. You're going to have to wait for that. Time to relax is later.
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For now, you've got to be ready. You've got to be ready to move, to plant, to harvest, to cut, to saw, to pick up.
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You got to be ready to do. You're on the move. Likewise, he says, keep your lamps burning.
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In other words, just don't let the don't let the oil run out. You know, like like you might do if you you come home after work, you like the lamp and you just let it fade out.
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And when it does, you go to sleep, you know, you fade out yourself as though there's nothing urgent to do.
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Now, there's no reason to keep it burning. Nothing to be eagerly waiting for. Don't do that.
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He's saying instead, and he says in verse thirty six, be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding feast.
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He's gone on. He's gone to a wedding party. Now, in those days, a wedding feast might go on for days and they didn't know exactly when it might end.
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So they don't know exactly when he's coming back. Maybe he'll decide to come back early. Stay ready. So if he comes back now.
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You're in bed. You're so you say you're not in bed. You got to say not. You leave the not.
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You're you get mess it up. You're not in bed. You know, he doesn't. And so he doesn't have to wait on you.
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Imagine this compound kind of wall with a gate. And he's out there knocking on the door. He wants you right there. Lickety split.
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You're up your leg by that door. You open it. He didn't want you in bed where you have to get up.
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And oh, you're groggy. Oh, what's that knocking? Oh, yeah, he's where then you have to put your clothes on and then you got to go out there.
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You don't want to wait on you. So what Jesus means is that this is a time of crisis, a time of urgency.
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And maybe then the disciples understood that and that this time they understood this is urgent. Jesus is here and they got to be ready.
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But he's Jesus is warning, you know, in the future, kind of time drags on. There will be temptations to relax, to untuck our robes, to lose a sense of urgency, let the lamp go out, maybe go to bed.
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And and maybe you think, well, now I can start seeking other things. Now I can put the business first.
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He's not going to come for a while. But the dating first, the money first, the good times first. And we don't have to be so driven now.
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Don't be so on edge anymore. Chill. And Jesus says, no, no, no chilling.
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Be ready. Don't leave him waiting. Now, there are two errors that are commonly taught today that tempt people to relax, but to go slack.
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First, there's the that was then error. And in other words, this is just history.
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That's what Jesus said. Then sure, they thought he was going to come soon.
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There was a crisis then, but it doesn't apply to us now because we're 2000 years and waiting.
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Yes, he's not going to come. Don't worry about it. Maybe someone say maybe it was even all fulfilled in 87.
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He said, we don't need to wait for anything else. There's nothing more to wait for. There's no more impending judgment that could come at any time.
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We can, they think, like the rich young, like the rich fool, relax and eat and drink and be married.
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We can now do that. But what Jesus says here is to warn us that, sure, there might be a long wait.
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In fact, much of what Jesus taught about his second coming is that there will be a long delay.
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You look at Matthew chapter 24 and 25. Much of it is predicated on there will be a long delay.
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But you better be ready anyway. Warning us during that time while we're waiting not to fall into the temptations that will come.
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With a long delay, like. Thinking is not so urgent anymore.
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You can untuck your we can untuck our robes now. We can let the lamps burn, burn out. We can go to bed, not have to worry about him coming just yet.
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No, Jesus says, stay ready. Well, the second error is that some that some think we can be slack and we can untuck our robes and turn our attention to other things for a while because, you know, he's he's coming in the.
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Distance, he's coming in the future, sure, but he's coming with plenty of warning. There'll be signs, you know, you wait for the signs and then you can you'll have plenty of time to get ready.
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Maybe he'll text us. Yeah, that's it. He'll text us first. You know, I'm seven years away.
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I'm three and a half years away. Yeah, I'm coming this year. Well, that's nice, isn't it? So we'll know if you know the signs, if you get the text.
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We'll have plenty of time to get ready. But Jesus here says it's not so. There's no text coming.
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He'll come and he says clearly, repeatedly, he'll come at a time you do not expect. So you we need constant readiness.
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So when it comes, when he comes, whether a second coming for all to see into history or he comes just into your life individually, suddenly when he's knocking at the door of your life, we're ready.
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We're ready because we stayed ready at all times. We sought first God's kingdom.
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Now, those kind of people. Those who stay ready, the father's little flock, you know, if you're not a little flock, he says they will be blessed.
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In verse thirty seven. Truly, I say to you, you know, he emphasizes that truly this is for real.
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This is for sure. He, the master Christ himself knows that verse thirty seven.
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He is a promise, an incentive, a reward for those who stay ready. He will dress himself for service.
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Service. Now he's tucking in his robes and he says now he will have them.
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That's the servants who stayed ready. He's going to have them recline at table. Otherwise, if you're one of those now, you can now you can relax.
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This is what you've been waiting on to relax. Now you can relax. Now you can eat and drink and be merry.
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Yeah, but the rich fool thought he could have now those who waited for Jesus.
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There'll be a time when they can have it. And here's a great role reversal. You know, we've been waiting on him if we've stayed ready.
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And now. He's waiting on us. He says about himself, notice that verse thirty seven, he will come.
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That's Jesus himself. He will come and serve them, serve those of his servants who were waiting, who were ready.
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This is him, by the way. This is this is Jesus giving us the kingdom, this the servant king still serving even in the kingdom, even when it's complete, still serving.
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And he's doing it because he delights in those of his servants who sought first that kingdom.
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So in verse thirty eight, he extols them. Notice that if he comes in the second watch, it's about it's early morning, about two, three a .m.
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Or, you know, really tempting to fall off to sleep or the third watch about four or five a .m.,
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then it's really, really tempting to fall asleep. And if he comes in, if he still finds them awake, finds there, they're so seeking the kingdom that they're seeking him when almost everybody else, you know, is has let their guard down as slack has gone off seeking money and careers and business success and relationships and romances and thrills.
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But these. Are still urgently putting the Lord first. When he finds them, he says, blessed are those servants.
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So stay ready, stay ready, because and he repeats it. So important, this is so much the emphasis of what
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Jesus teaches about his second coming, he's coming when you don't expect. It's like a burglar in verse thirty nine.
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Here's another analogy that changes briefly. Just like a burglar does it.
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You know, burglars don't make appointments. They don't leave you a note saying about two a .m.
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I'm going to be crawling through your window. And they don't do that. They don't give signs ahead of time that they're on their way.
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And Jesus says so, too, with him, the son of man, he uses that term is the one who brings in God's kingdom on Earth.
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I, Jesus could say, I will come with no notice like a burglar comes, no notice.
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So you better stay ready. Finally. If you really believe.
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That is the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Steward. What you have.
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Peter, after hearing that there's stay ready, what we just heard, he's heard that in verse forty one, he asked, raises, you know, ask
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Jesus, you know, is this. This parable, is this for us, probably meaning for us, twelve apostles, the leaders, as we'll see how
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Jesus answers it, or is it for all the people, all these people who are flocking to hear Jesus, who, in other words, who has to stay ready?
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And Jesus's answer, starting in verse forty two. You know, it's kind of both. It is for everyone, but especially for the leaders.
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Verse Jesus says, who then is the faithful and wise manager? And now he's he's he's staying.
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He's going back to this analogy of the servants in a in an estate. Who's the faithful and wise manager or literally steward?
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A manager or a steward was a servant who was over the other servants, kind of the foreman, whatever.
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If if the owner went away, like, you know, to the wedding feast, the manager, the steward, then he would be in charge.
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He makes all the decisions, you know, about the owner's property for the owner in his absence.
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And the steward would decide, you know, when to give the servants, other servants their meals, what to eat, that kind of thing.
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In verse forty three, blessed is the steward who is taking care of the other servants, making sure the estate, the household is running well and blessed to that servant who's doing that faithfully until the owner returns.
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So now we're back to this original analogy. The master has gone away. He expects the servants to stay ready for him, for him to come back at any time.
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Over those servants is a steward, a leader. If the steward is doing his job, that is, he's caring for the other servants.
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He's keeping the household running well. Then in verse forty four, the owner, when he returns, will reward him by setting him permanently over his possessions.
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He almost gets to live the rest of his life as if he were an owner, too. He's the rich guy. So Jesus told us in verse and in Matthew chapter 19, verse 28, that those who have followed him faithfully will at the renewal of all things, right at the resurrection, when he sits on his glorious throne, he will have them, the faithful followers.
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They will sit on thrones to realize that Jesus is on his glorious throne.
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The faithful followers also sit on thrones and Jesus says they will judge his people.
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So literally the kingdom, which means the rule of God, the reign of God, his authority that is being given to his people by the father.
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This is all an explanation, this long parable of the household and the stewards, the only explanation of what
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Jesus said, the father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom. This is showing how it's done. But in but in verse forty five, that's the good ones, the faithful ones.
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They they get the kingdom, they get the authority. But in verse forty five, if a if a steward, otherwise a servant over the servants.
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Servant in charge thinks to himself. Master's delayed in coming.
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It's been 2000 years. You know, he abuses then he abuses his authority, says he beats the male and female servants.
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He's an abusive leader. He lets the power get to his head like this cult in North Carolina, down somewhere by Charlotte.
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I saw on Facebook just this past week in which a leader has to approve everything in the members lives. They can't date or marry without permission.
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And the married couples can't have sex without permission of the leader. Now, here, the steward forgets he's a steward.
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He thinks he's an owner. I know owners can do whatever they want. Stewards can only do what they're authorized to do.
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He they this this he's he's got power hungry. He thinks he's the master. And so he he beats the servants.
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He abuses his authority. And he also eats and drinks and gets drunk. So he's taken the stuff that belongs to the owner.
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He's just indulging himself with it. It's like some churches today and where the leader enriches himself.
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To satisfy himself, maybe lives in multimillion dollar mansions, uses the church to get rich, to indulge himself.
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You know, he gets a big salary, gets all kinds of basically the church's money belongs to him. And he uses it to big build houses and buy expensive cars and, you know, goes to his flies off in his private jet to his resort in the
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Bahamas. Well, he comes back on Sunday morning to beat the people. You need to give more. You need to give more up your time, that kind of thing.
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And he keeps it all for himself, as though there isn't so much more that needs to be done urgently for the poor, for missions now.
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I just was about three weeks ago, I mentioned this list of what he called the 50 ludicrously wealthy preachers, which on the
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Internet, which shows up, which, you know, which lists them how much how many millions of dollars they have.
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And some people say, well, why are you begrudge them? They've they've been very successful. They've gotten huge ministries. Why shouldn't they even be able to enjoy some luxury, some some some money?
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Maybe. But the problem with that is it shows for them that they've kept millions of dollars, they've built big houses for themselves, like the pastor of a megachurch in the
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Charlotte area who owns who built a one point seven million dollar house in the suburbs there of Charlotte.
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That's a little bit more than you really needs to live comfortably. I don't begrudge, you know, even pastors living comfortably, but do they need to live in luxury?
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And when they do, when they decide that they they can turn their success into luxury for themselves, what are they saying about what is urgent?
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You know, the poor, that's not urgent, is it? Missions is not urgent, is it to them? They're willing to keep it as a it's a lack of urgency of what needs to be done.
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They think they think the needs of others can be. Can they can wait, but their need for luxury?
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Yeah, that's that's urgent. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, reported of him that when he was in Oxford, a student in Oxford, his expenses were twenty eight pounds and his income was 30 pounds.
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We barely had enough to pay his expenses. He gave he paid his expenses, 28, and he gave two pounds away as he became successful leader of the
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Methodist movement. He's his income rose to 60 pounds. But he still lived on 28 pounds and he gave away 32 pounds.
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And as the Methodist movement really flourished, got big and he's now basically he's the leader of this huge movement.
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His income was 90 pounds. He still lived on 28 pounds and gave away 62.
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He lived comfortably enough, but it's his giving that increased as his success did.
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Because that was urgent. The kingdom of God, the gospel getting out to him, that was urgent.
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And verse 46, the true master will come, you know, on these others that think they're the needs of the poor, the needs of the missions.
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That's not so urgent. They're luxuries they want to keep. In verse 46, the master, the true master will come on a day when he this is the abusive servant.
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This abusive steward who indulges himself, he will come when he does not expect him at an hour he does not know.
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So important is this warning of surprise coming. And here the abusive, selfish leaders don't know.
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Or maybe they don't really even think he's ever coming back at all. They think they can just, you know, they can do what they want.
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They could use the other servants. They thought the little flock was for themselves to bilk. And but to their shock, judgment will come.
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And the true master, he said, Jesus says, will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.
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Which, if you think about it, sounds a little weird because, you know, normally when you're cut in pieces, that's kind of the end.
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But now this is worse. You're cut in pieces and you're put with the unfaithful, which means with the unbelievers.
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And what he means, of course, is the judgment will come brutally on him. And suddenly and then they will be relegated to where unbelievers are.
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Hell. They had better fear him who can kill the body and throw the soul into hell.
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Jesus had just said that earlier, too. The Lord takes very seriously. Those who abuse his people, leaders who abuse his people, who use their position to enrich themselves and abuse
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God's people. You don't want to be one of those. So, steward, that is, know that what you have been given, what you have, what you have is entrusted to you by the true owner who is expecting you to manage it well and not to squander it on just your own self -indulgence.
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Now, you could say, well, maybe some of you think, well, that's for church leaders like apostles, maybe by implication than other church leaders later on.
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But I'm just a simple lamb. I don't have to worry about it. Yeah, maybe. But he addresses all the servants starting in verse forty seven.
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First, you know, you understand there's judgment, which could be hell, and there's discipline here, judgment cut in pieces, put with the unbelievers.
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That is coming for the abusive steward who lorded it over his servants, who indulge themselves.
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They're getting judgment. There's also discipline and it's corporal. All right.
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You know, say corporal beatings, but not capital punishment, not cut in pieces.
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It's getting a lashing corporal discipline, corporal, but not capital.
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We'll come on the the other servants who didn't store or stay.
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Jesus says that servant who knew his master's will, but did not get ready, didn't didn't get ready. He knew he should, but he didn't do it.
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Still didn't seek first the kingdom. Still went after the boy or the girlfriends, went after the money, went after the success, still wouldn't lay up treasure in heaven because he thought it was an urgent bank account was urgent.
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But not heaven. He thought he could put it off and rather than build his treasure.
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In heaven, he built it up here in a bank account or maybe spent it all in vacations and luxuries.
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He knew he was clearly told over and over again to seek first the kingdom, to be generous, to care more for heavenly things.
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But he just wouldn't do it. That one, Jesus says, will be disciplined, a beating corporal, but not capital punishment.
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To that one now or not yet, he'll suffer for knowing, but not doing. Maybe he thought maybe his excuse, he thought it was all attitude and theology, you know, that as long as he he felt some desire to give a he had the theology, right?
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He confessed that God was the ultimate owner, that he said he believed in missions and he wanted to help.
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He wanted to help the poor, but he, you know, he thought it was
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OK that he never got around to actively really doing it. Such a one, Jesus says, no, no, it's not
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OK. He will receive a severe beating. And the conclusion is that you must do what you know you should do.
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You know, with knowledge comes responsibility. It's not good enough to know the correct theological formulas, the doctrines and the catechisms you have to do.
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There could be no fake discipleship. No, no pretense of a looking good, like the
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Pharisees, who thought it was all about image, saying the right words, claiming to have the right feelings. But inside, it says they were full of greed.
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It doesn't. The theology and an attitude that doesn't result in you doing the right thing.
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It doesn't help you. It makes it makes the situation worse for you. Your knowledge of what you should do isn't.
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This is odd. Some people think this way. Some people think the knowledge of what they should do is an excuse for not doing it.
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That's why some people think this is bizarre, like the ill -mannered person told to stop slurping a soup response defiantly, but I know my etiquette.
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Well, then why don't you do it? Well, the one who knows and does not do will receive a severe beating.
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While in verse 48, the one who did not know. And did what deserved a beating?
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He didn't know, but he still did the wrong thing. He did the wrong thing. He will receive a light beating. Now, some people think you should get off completely.
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But again, there's discipline not knowing what you are supposed to do. That is seeking first God's kingdom, laying up treasure in heaven.
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Not knowing that is not an excuse. Now, you might be badly taught, maybe from an area or from a family that didn't read the
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Bible or go to a Bible teaching church. But you should have sought to know what your father wants you to do.
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Maybe you didn't willfully disobey like the one who knew, you know, went to church for years and read books and articles and heard sermons, but still wouldn't do.
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But you still didn't care enough. To learn. Now, of course.
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I don't think that's going to apply to anyone here. I don't know to all of you here.
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I don't think this last this category of the servant who didn't know gets and didn't and did the wrong thing and gets a light beating.
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I don't think any of you will get light beatings. That's the good news. The bad news is you might get a severe one.
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That's that's bad. So, you know, for you, because you've been hearing here what to do,
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I think. And so for you, you're not going to fall in this last category. So put that out of the mind.
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There's there's three other categories you might fall into. You might be one of the blessed servants being served by the king himself or God forbid you were one of the abusive stewards cut to pieces and thrown with the unbelievers.
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Let's hope none of those here. Or you're one of those who knew but didn't do who have some severe discipline coming.
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The conclusion at the end of verse 48 is everyone notices everyone, no exceptions to whom much was given, much knowledge of the kingdom, much knowledge of what you were supposed to do of him.
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Much will be required. And from him to whom they entrusted much. They will demand the more.
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Notice here, two truths, first, knowledge brings responsibility. If you've been given much knowledge, you've read your
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Bible, you've heard biblical preaching, maybe read good books, whatever, then much is required from you.
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And he doesn't mean you'll be required to do really well on a Bible content test. That's not what it's about.
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He means he will what you you will be required to do much now, reform people especially need to hear this, because sometimes
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I get the feeling that they think their knowledge is good enough as if the fact they know better means just that is it makes them put them at a better position with God, just knowing better, even if they don't do better.
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It isn't so it's the reverse, as though the Christian life. Sometimes I get the feeling some of them think we're all about learning the right doctrines, learning to say it, say it right with precision.
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Memorize the catechism. Learn how to defend Tulip from those rascally Armenians. You do that, then you're set.
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No, you're not. Increased knowledge increases your responsibility to practice what you know.
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For example, OK, so, you know, God is sovereign. Great, great knowledge to have.
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Well, then that means. That you should trust him to take care of your life. And that means that you're not worried about money all the time.
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And that means that you can put your treasure in heaven. That means you give generously.
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If your superior theology doesn't result in superior generosity and superior service, investing more in your heavenly bank account by giving and by doing.
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Then something's wrong. Seriously wrong. Second.
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There can be no room for fake discipleship for saying the right words. But not doing it.
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If you've been entrusted with truth, you know the master's will, but you don't act and notice that word in verse forty seven act.
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He knew the master's will, but didn't act. I didn't, you know, didn't memorize the catechism, didn't act.
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If you don't if you don't, he says you will receive a severe beating. Much will be demanded of you.
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And if you're not acting on much, then you'll be disciplined much. Maybe it'll be in this life.
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Maybe the discipline will come in this life as the things that you clung to, that you chased after the cash and the cars, the relationships as you find that they're lost.
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They slip through your fingers. You find them falling through the holes of your earthly money bag that you had for them.
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The thieves break in and steal it. The malls eat it away, whatever you had stored up.
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The things that you sought for instead of God's kingdom turned to dust right here in this life.
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Or maybe it'll be later. Maybe the Lord will wait for the judgment when the reality is exposed that the life you confessed.
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You didn't really live. So what are you waiting on?
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Now, yes, there are some things you have to wait on. God's kingdom is now here, but not completely.
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You have to seek it and realize that some things, you know, like the complete overcoming of all sin.
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That'll have to wait. You're not going to get all that here. They'll have to wait until Jesus puts all his enemies under his feet.
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You can't have a perfect life yet, but as you wait, you can have a perfect hope because, you know, in your heart that the father's good pleasure is to give you the kingdom.
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And he's already doing it. And you can't wait for him to finish.
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So now. As you wait. You store. A treasure in heaven urgently.
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You stay ready, being prepared for him any time by always living like he could show up at any time at your door, waiting on him as you steward what you have, your possessions, your knowledge, your time by doing what you know, no fake discipleship.
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If you'll do that. You'll find the father's good pleasure.
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He'll share it with you. Good pleasure as he gives you his kingdom.
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You'll find amazingly. As you're waiting on him,