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This week, my wife and I both got nights out to ourselves. Whenever I get a night out, I usually grab a meal and movie with buddies. My wife, Amy opts for getting together with her gals and talking the night away. We try to do this as much as possible – if not each week, every other week.
Now when Amy gets a night out away from me and the kids, I have a couple of goals for when she returns. I want the kids in bed, quiet, and asleep without incident. If there is an incident, I don’t want it to carry over to her in any way to her. I also want the kitchen to be spotless and the living room to be straightened up. Essentially, I want Amy to get time away, but not dread coming home. She doesn’t need to ruin her time off by having to clean up my mess that night or the following day. I do this because I want her to relax and not worry about the house at least for a few hours.
Well, in scripture, Jesus figuratively and literally leaves the house and He has put you in charge. He has expectations of you while He is gone, and they are a little bigger than making sure the kitchen is clean. In His parable of Luke 12, the master Jesus has left and He will return when no one expects it. If He finds the servants awake, alert, and ready to serve their master when He returns, He promises to do something amazing. He will take on the clothes of a servant and will in turn, care for His servants. But if while He is gone, the servants become lazy and get drunk and abuse the other servants, the master will return unexpectedly and cut those unfaithful servants to pieces.
Quite literally, this teaching is intended to scare the hell out of us. Who doesn’t want to be found faithful? Who wants to suffer the master’s wrath? And the passage makes no bones about it. We are all Jesus’ servants whether or not we acknowledge it. We will all be found as either faithful or unfaithful.
As I read and preached this, I wondered, “Where is the hope?” I can be so unfaithful in managing my master’s resources. I so often look at my home, my money, and all my possessions as mine. Am I the unfaithful servant? Fortunately, just a bit further in Luke, I find hope for this unfaithful servant. Jesus, after giving the Lord’s Supper to the disciples in Luke 19 says this, “Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”
This promise of Jesus by no means lets me off the hook. I am called, and you are called, to be faithful servants. But it does give me hope that Jesus is the faithful one among us that serves. Our Savior is also our master, but He even more so, is our servant master securing not only salvation but a life of faithfulness.
Gordon Duncan is the pastor of Sovereign King Church (www.newgarnerchurch.com)in Garner NC. He blogs daily at www.jgordonduncan.com and doesn’t mind doing the dishes.
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