"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. 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, 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. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour your do not expect.
Peter said, "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? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing so when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 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. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. 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.
Peter said, "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? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing so when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 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. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. 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.
I normally don't feel the need to recap sermons from church and blog about them, but something from the message really stuck out to me today. I know it's a lot of verses to think about at once, but you need to know the context for the one that spoke to me. The gist of this whole passage is that Jesus is talking about the faithfulness of those who say they follow him. He is the master, I am the steward. Jesus mentions four kinds of servants: the first is faithful and responsible; the second one acts like there is no master and believes that what he has been put in charge of is his, dominating others and being a glutton, living only for instant gratification; the third servant knows what the master wants and just doesn't do it; the fourth doesn't know the master's will and does wrong. Each receives an appropriate reward or consequence for their behavior.
(As an aside, it's not religious behavior, going through the motions just to get the cookie or gold star that I'm writing about here. Jesus never mentions that. As my pastor pointed out, Jesus is talking about faithfulness. What the servants know of the master and how they respond is the point. We are saved by faith not empty works. I can't do anything to save myself or make God love me more. I want to be a faithful servant not because doing so will get me into Heaven, but because I'm already loved and my behavior overflows from a thankful and joyful heart.)
The verse I highlighted is the one that won't get out of my mind. It's very sobering, and reminds me that talk is cheap and easy. Action is much harder and requires following through on what I say I believe. The outright hedonism of the second servant is easy to condemn and the punishment is just--I know that I'm not my own master, and that God has entrusted me with many resources that I need to manage wisely. So I'm not the fourth servant either--I know God's will (in this area at least). So that means I'm either the faithful steward...or the defiant one. Do I know what God wants and desires for me to do and carry it out faithfully, even when it's hard....or do I just give Jesus the middle finger and go about my own business, knowing full well that it's not what I really should be doing? I'm still a Christian, redeemed by Jesus, saved from Hell....but when I get to Heaven, I really don't want to hear, "You could have done so much more with what I gave you." Or even worse, "Why were you so faithless?"Sitting in church, I was very convicted with the realization that I'm the I-know-but-I-don't-care servant. I say I love Jesus and go to church and read my Bible and blah blah blah. I can have all the Bible knowledge in the world, but it doesn't mean squat if I'm not doing anything about it. Theology doesn't mean anything if it's only filling my head and not my heart. If my day-to-day behavior isn't reflecting what I say I believe, then I don't really believe what I say. And you can quote me on that. (Especially if it's right after I've just done something blatantly wrong; it's good for me to eat humble pie, particularly if it's my own words coming back at me.)
In talking about faithfulness in generosity, people tend to think of money first and foremost. It's easy to write a check and feel like I've contributed to something. I can say I'm pretty generous with my monetary resources--I regularly give funds to missionaries, charitable organizations, my church, to those in need. It really doesn't take that much effort. There is more to generosity than that. Money, sure. But what about giving of my talents? Okay, volunteering, teaching, sharing my art knowledge. Yeah, it takes a little bit of effort. Now what about giving my time? Not just volunteering, actively doing something I choose, but building friendships, deep relationships, giving of myself, sacrificing comfort and ease to be face-to-face with someone else and being real. Sacrificing "me time." Oooh, now that's a lot harder. It's easy to do something without engaging my heart.
But God calls me to love. And love is many things: patient, kind, not envious or boastful, not arrogant or rude, not always insisting that things go my way, not irritable or resentful, not rejoicing when things go wrong for others. Love endures through trial and perseveres, not giving up simply because it's not convenient or a little too much work. (paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 13:4-7) Damn. Being a follower of Jesus is hard.
I know what's what. So the question is what am I going to do with that knowledge? Faithfulness...or defiance?
No comments:
Post a Comment