32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
36 If he comes suddenly do not let him find you sleeping.
37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch’! (Mark 13:32-37 NIV)
As you may or may not know, Christ is coming back for his people and the scriptures are full of references to that very fact. But the reality is that NO ONE knows when…not even Christ himself as told to us in the verses above in the book of Mark. So what does that mean for you and me?
We must wait faithfully for His return.
In my last blog post, I told you there were three things that God requests us to do while we are waiting and today, I am going to focus on the first one on the list.
Christ revealed this to His disciples in the form of a parable and in fact, Jesus gave all 3 of them as parables in order to help the disciples better understand and apply them to their lives. Here is the first one:
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?
46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’
49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.
50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:45-51 NIV)
Jesus paints this picture using words of 2 extremes; 1 servant who was faithful and carried out what his master had asked him to do, and the other servant who saw the masters absence as a chance to enjoy himself to the fullest and just party.
The Faithful Servant
Because this servant was faithful the entire time the master was away, he was rewarded beyond any expectation imaginable. He is promoted and given privileges that are almost to the level of the master himself.
Guys, this is a peak inside to the eternal rewards that all faithful Christians will be able to share in.
The Evil Servant
This servant represents a self-deceived doubter who simply pretends to be serving his master. The truth be told, he doesn’t love the master or even look forward to his return and I think he actually believes he isn’t coming back and therefore he can do anything he wants. Moreover, he convinces himself of this idea and seemingly justifies it to himself and then continues down his evil path.
When the master does return, the evil servant is uncovered and punished to the other complete negative extreme, as the faithful servant reward was positive. He is sent to a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth…which represents hell.
So this is not a very difficult parable to understand or how it applies to all of us. Christ represents the master and has left for a while but He expects us, his faithful servants, to watch for Him because He is coming back…
So which servant are you?
This is not a difficult question to answer if you’re honest with yourself. But as a simple friendly reminder, you need to figure this question out sooner rather than later and begin to live your life accordingly because Christ’s return is imminent.
For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”
And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” (Hebrews 10:37-38 NIV)
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Matthew 24:42 NIV)
Guys, if you haven’t figured it out already, the first thing God requests of us is to watch. I encourage you to be the faithful servant Christ spoke about in His parable rather than the evil one who thought he could outsmart his master. Fundamentally, he paid the ultimate price by going to a horrific place and I don’t want that to be you…
So please…keep a close watch…
Until next time guys…
