Living Faithfully

Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

Luke 12:35-48

The context for today’s Gospel passage is that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem where he will be crucified and he is teaching the crowds and his disciples about living faithfully. Jesus knows the time is coming when he will no longer be physically present with his followers and it will be up to them to follow through and act on what they have heard and learned from him. To be ready for Jesus’ return requires living faithfully as Jesus has told us.

[powerpress]“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.

Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes;

truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?”

And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time?  Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly, I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all of his possessions. But if that slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two, and put him with the unfaithful. That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.

From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”

In these verses, Jesus illustrates what our approach to life should be, as well as laying out the rewards and punishments that await us depending on our response. Jesus knows that during the time between his departure and his return, many will lapse in their commitment and loyalty. In the same way, our passion and enthusiasm in obeying Jesus can vary during our lives, if we are not vigilant. We may have times when we are fully devoted and times when we drift away from Jesus, faith, and church community. There can be times when we share generously what God has trusted us to manage and times when we spend money on our needs and wants and give God the leftovers. There are seasons when we serve faithfully with our spiritual gifts, and periods when we don’t feel we can. There are times when we think our lives belong to us to do whatever we want, and times when we grasp that our lives and all we have belong to the Lord.

The primary picture Jesus uses is the relationship of slaves and their master. Obviously slavery is wrong and not something that we endorse, but it was part of life in the Roman world 2,000 years ago. While the image of master and slaves is somewhat difficult for us to relate to, it was easy to understand in Jesus’ day. A slave’s work, loyalty, time, skills, production, and service were for the master he or she served. We are encouraged to live like slaves who are dressed for action, with their lamps lit, and ears alertly listening for their master’s return from his wedding banquet.

I think it is amazing that timbers from HMS Somerset III, the ship that Paul Revere went by in Boston Harbor in April of 1775, surfaced in the sands of Provincetown this spring for the first time in at least 37 years. If you go to Boston to Christ Church, better known as Old North Church, you can hear how Robert Newman was the only known patriot who had the keys to the church so he had the responsibility of climbing all those steps in the darkness with a large oil lamp in each hand to the top of the steeple to shine the signal for Paul Revere. The lamps were seen not only by Revere, but also by British troops who were pounding on the door of the church before Newman was all the way down the stairs.  He escaped by going out a window at the front of the sanctuary, but he was later arrested. While Robert Newman, with good reason, didn’t want to open the church door and let the soldiers in, Jesus says obedient slaves want to be ready at any moment to open the door and let the master in as soon as he knocks. Slaves also understand that the house they are living in, while they wait for the master’s return, belongs to the master and not to them.

A woman finished her grocery shopping and returned to her car only to find four men inside. She dropped her shopping bags, drew a handgun, and screamed, “I have a gun, and I know how to use it!  Get out of the car.” The men didn’t wait for a second invitation; they got out and ran like crazy. The woman, somewhat shaken, loaded her shopping bags and then got into the car. But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t get her key into the ignition. Then it dawned on her; she was in the wrong car. Her car was parked several spaces away! She loaded her grocery bags into her own car and then drove to the police station to turn herself in. The desk sergeant to whom she told the story nearly fell off his chair laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four men were reporting a carjacking by an old woman with thick glasses, curly white hair, less than five feet tall, and carrying a large handgun.  No charges were filed.

She thought it was her car, but it really belonged to someone else.

We may think our lives are our own, but they really belong to God.[1]

Our life, our character, our work, loyalty, time, skills, production, and service are for the master we serve – Jesus.

Being watchful doesn’t mean overreacting and leaping to unfounded conclusions, as the woman with the groceries and the gun did. Being watchful as Christians means more than reading novels about the second coming, which are helpful in direct proportion to how they motivate us to obedience and developing Christ-like character in the present.  Being watchful and ready means living in a consistently obedient way that we are ready at any moment to give an account to God of how we have lived. Living faithfully for Jesus means being devoted to our tasks, and refusing to let distractions, fatigue or delay, divert us from our duties.

Life at sea in the late 18th and early 19th centuries on board ships like the HMS Somerset III or the USS Constitution, the oldest ship in the US Navy, was tough. While on board sailors were on duty for four hours and slept four hours the entire voyage (and you think you feel tired). While on ship, the highest obligation and greatest concern of a crewmember was to do the Captain’s bidding. For us in the fellowship of the church, fulfilling what Jesus has asked is our highest obligation and greatest concern. We live with complete devotion to Jesus and the tasks he has given us as his followers and again, the primary task is having our character shaped and formed by the Holy Spirit through the habits of our life to become more like Jesus.

In the first parable, the master finds the servants prepared and awake even though it is in the third watch of the night. Jesus says those who are alert and about God’s work will be rewarded by the master who will feed, serve, and bless them. While this would have been virtually unheard of in first century Roman culture, it is consistent with Jesus’ servant leadership approach. He came not to be served, but to serve and is willing even to wash his disciples’ feet. In the same, way we are called to act as servant leaders in whatever leadership opportunities we find ourselves. As followers of Jesus, it is not enough to be concerned with what may or may not be legal; we are to be guided by what is right, ethical and moral in the eyes of God.

There is blessing for those found alert and about the master’s business and, according to the second image of the homeowner and the thief, judgment for the unprepared. Obviously, Jesus knows we need to sleep; we can’t stay awake 24 hours a day. However, we live in a state of preparedness, because, as we’re told several times in the scriptures, the day of the Lord will come with the suddenness and unexpectedness of a thief in the night like in the following story.  “The man in the shadows waited until the family got all of its belongings into the car, checked everything, had the car loaded up, and pulled away for their summer vacation. The man in the shadows waited until it was dark, and then he went to the front door of the house and rang the bell. When there was no answer, this man, seasoned thief that he was, had no trouble picking the lock and getting inside.  As a precaution he called out to the darkness, “Is anybody home?”

He was stunned when he heard a voice reply, “I see you, and Jesus sees you.”

Terrified the thief called out, “Who’s there?”

And again the voice came back, “I see you, and Jesus sees you.”

So the thief switched on his flashlight toward the direction of the voice and was immediately relieved to see a caged parrot who recited once more, “I see you, and Jesus sees you.” He laughed to himself and then went to the wall and threw on the light switch. Then he saw it.  Beneath the parrot’s cage was a huge Doberman pinscher. The parrot said, “Attack, Jesus, attack.”[2]

Jesus sees us; he observes our living and our choices. He knows the level of our faithfulness. Whenever we see another top executive charged or arrested for financial wrongdoing many of us hope these greedy, unethical, selfish crooks are punished to the full extent of the law. I hope we would be more comfortable explaining to Jesus our management of the time, opportunities, gifts, and resources he has trusted us to manage than they will be on a Day of Judgment and accountability.

In verse 48 at the end of the parable of faithful manager, Jesus states the principle of proportional responsibility:  God expects much from those to whom much has been given. This principle makes me very nervous because I have been given so much by God. I have been blessed to be a spiritual leader in a church, but with that leadership comes greater accountability to God and higher expectations. The more gifts God has given us, the more God expects us to employ them to bless others. The more education we have, the more the Lord expects us to use that education to serve God’s purposes and God’s people in some way.  Many people in our culture envy the wealthy and aspire to have lots of money. Money can accomplish tremendous good, but I wonder how often we realize that the more money a person has, the more at risk the person’s soul because the greater expectations the Lord has for how we use, invest, and spend that money.  Many of us have been blessed with gifts, education, opportunities, and financial wealth beyond the wildest dreams of literally billions of people.  The fact that one-day the Lord is going to ask me to give an account of what I did with all that education, wealth, and years on earth motivates and spurs me on. I want to be found a faithful and prudent manager of all that the master has trusted me to manage. Furthermore, I want the people I have served as a pastor to be blessed and not punished when they must give an account to the Lord. I don’t want a member of a church I led to be pleading with Jesus, “My pastor never told me I would be accountable for how I lived, how I served, how I gave, I didn’t know.” Jesus says those who didn’t know will get off with a light beating. But those of us who have claimed the name of Christ, who knew what our master wanted but didn’t prepare ourselves or do what the master desired will get a severe beating. Ouch. So instead of worrying about other people and what we think they deserve or what judgment we think they merit, we should be concerned about ourselves.  God doesn’t have the same expectations for everyone. Jesus says the more leadership, knowledge, power, influence, education, or wealth we possess; the greater our level of accountability for what we do with it.

When we’re devoted to Jesus we live faithfully focused on things that have lasting meaning. Before his novels The Firm, Pelican Brief, and The Client catapulted John Grisham to great commercial success – he was an unknown, small-town lawyer. Today, with all the notoriety, Grisham makes a concerted effort to focus on things that have lasting meaning, including his faith in God.  Grisham remembers, as a young law student, the advice of a friend:

“One of my best friends in college died when he was 25, just a few years after we graduated from Mississippi State University.  I was in law school, and he called me one day and wanted to get together. So we had lunch, and he told me he had cancer. I couldn’t believe it.  “What do you do when you realize you are about to die?” I asked.  “It’s real simple,” he said.  “You get things right with God, and you spend as much time with those you love as you can. Then you settle up with everybody else.” Finally he said, “You know, you ought to live everyday like you have only a few more days to live.” I haven’t forgotten those words.[3]

Jesus says we ought to live everyday like we only have a few more days to live. As if our master could return at any moment to reward those who are alert, watchful, and faithfully fulfilling the master’s commands. He also will hold accountable those who have drifted in their commitment, gotten lazy, or sleepy, or lapsed in their loyalty to their master. The master may call us at any time, from this realm of life to a new life of worship and service that lies on the other side of death.  Whether the master returns or the master calls us, we want to be found living faithfully – diligently pursuing our God given tasks, alert, watchful, ready, using all we have been given in gifts, talents, opportunities, and material wealth to enhance the reputation of our Master.

At BBC we stress the love and grace of God, but we also emphasize the truth that with God’s love and blessings also come expectations for obedience, generosity, and service.

The more the Lord has blessed us, the greater the expectations.

Blessed are those the master finds alert and faithfully at work about our Lord’s business.


[1] Greg Laurie, “A Time to Worship,” Decision (November 2001).

[2] William J. Bausch, A World of Stories, Twenty-Third Publications, Mystic, CT, 1999, 391.

[3] Will Norton, Jr., Christianity Today. Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 6.

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