transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:05] Welcome to Ten Minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work.

Speaker 2:
[00:10] I'm Jeff Parrett. There are more ways than ever to get ready for the future. From concerns over contagions to the climate, the prepping industry has skyrocketed over the last 10 years. In a matter of minutes online, you can spend hundreds of dollars on a pre-made survival kit, or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a hard-core bunker to put underneath your yard. Now, obviously, there are much milder ways that people live in a state of readiness. Our family used to live in the Midwest of the United States, and there, a common sense of readiness looked like having flashlights and water and maybe some snacks available in the event of a power outage or a tornado. Where we live now, people get ready by having go bags set aside in the event of an evacuation for wildfires. It seems like, no matter where you live, there's a future that people are having to prepare for. And of course, getting ready is not confined to the negative categories of disasters. If you see a couple shopping for jewelry, investigating venues and spending an excessive amount of time on Etsy or The Knot, you can guess that they're probably preparing for a future wedding day. The professional perusing options for a new car or a new place to live is preparing for a future promotion. The student whose nose is stuck in the books or the athlete rising early to exercise are both preparing for a future event that will test them. The hardcore prepper and the heartfelt couple, they seem miles apart in their behavior. But here's the thing that unites them. The future they believe in forms their behavior today. They're getting ready for an outcome that they really believe is possible. Nobody prepares for something that they think is unlikely. So the degree to which we get ready for an outcome demonstrates how real we think that outcome will be. The future we believe in forms our behavior today. Now, if that's true, you have to ask the question, what future is most fundamental to me today? What kind of future is my life putting on display right now? Jesus knew that his followers would be formed by the future they believe in, which is why he taught them to get ready for the future he would bring when he returns. Our passage today in Luke 12 tells us about the nature of Jesus' return, the need to get ready, and it tells us about how our behavior is formed by the future Jesus will bring as our king. Now as we prepare to approach God's word, let's slow down and ask for his grace, ask for his kindness to move through our time. Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life and breath, and thank you for your word. We bring before you every part of our experience, every part of our lives in this day, from our joys to our sorrows. We bring before you our anxiety and our excitement, our calendars and our contingencies. God, meet us in the space by your grace. Jesus, help us abide in you and remain in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in Luke's Gospel account, and as we read your living word, may it read us and restore us to new life with you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. In this portion of Luke, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He's revealing the reality of his kingdom and its implications for the world. When we get to our text for today, he draws our attention to the realm of readiness. Let's start by reading Jesus' words in verses 35–40. He says, stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning. 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 you do not expect. Okay, as we reflect on this, we can't escape the emphasis on our need to be ready for Jesus' return. It's a return that is both expected and unexpected. Jesus' return is expected because it is guaranteed to happen. While He's currently ascended on high in the heavenly places, He will return one day to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate the reality of His reign in a restored world, a new heaven and a new earth. His return is not like a potential weather forecast that might come to fruition. It is a promised future that will be fulfilled. So His return is to be expected. And yet, at the same time, the return of Jesus has this unexpected element in the sense that we don't know when He will return. Verse 40 links this unexpected timing with our need to be prepared. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. And so, Jesus tells us to live like we're ready. To get ready for some good hard work. Now, this might be counterintuitive for many people who imagine that Jesus' return is some kind of permission slip for passivity. But Jesus' words couldn't be clearer. He says, stay dressed for action. The literal phrase here in Greek is, let your loins stay girded. In the ancient world, the typical attire of a long, flowing robe would need to be tucked into a belt to be girded in order to prepare for hard work or exercise. Jesus is saying, because I'm coming again, you need to prepare with an active, vigorous faith. The future needs to form your faith today. Okay, so Jesus is clear that his guaranteed return will have an unexpected timing. And therefore we need to be ready today with an active faithfulness. But what exactly does that faithful preparation look like? Well, Jesus tells us in verses 42–48. In this next passage, he contrasts two very different kinds of servants who are working in a master's household. The first faithful servant is described in verse 42 as one who gives food to others at a proper time. This faithful servant loves those under his care. He is not living for himself, but is living for the benefit of others. In verse 43, Jesus says, blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing so when he comes. Now contrast that blessed faithful servant with the unfaithful servant, who doubts the potentially immediate arrival of his master. This servant is obsessed with his own immediate comfort, being taken in with the consumption of food and drunkenness. This unfaithful servant is stuck in self-indulgence, but he is also seething with injustice, beating his fellow servants. While the faithful servant is blessed for his readiness, this unfaithful, unjust servant is judged for his neglect. Now notice that both servants here are being formed by some kind of future. Their behavior in the today is being shaped by the future they most believe in. The difference between them is not whether they believe in a future that changes them. The difference is in which future is changing them. For one, the return of the master is a serious, urgent reality. For the other, the return of the master is a casual, long-term possibility. Now, as you reflect on this passage, which servant are you more like? What kind of future is your life displaying today? The description of the unfaithful servant here is ugly. It's distasteful. It's supposed to be. But I wonder if it hits home for more of us than we might initially think. Are there ways that you're stuck in your own version of passive self-indulgence? Maybe it's not from binging food or alcohol, but it could be through binging content on a screen, spending hours every day scrolling and streaming and scrolling and streaming. If that's you, it could reveal that your allegiance is to the algorithm. Perhaps this passage is a wake up call that your behavior is being formed by the formula of big tech, not King Jesus and his future. When we live like we're ready for Jesus' return, we don't live for ourselves. We replace self-indulgence with self-forgetfulness. Of course, we receive the gifts of rest and play, but our lives aren't defined by our comfortable preferences. Instead, they're defined by God's cosmic purposes. Now consider the other error of the unfaithful servant, his seething injustice toward others. You might not be beating people physically, but are there ways that you've become numb to the dehumanization of other people? Maybe it's through your words, your thought life, or even just your general posture toward other people, especially toward others who are supposed to be under your care, at work, or at home, or in your neighborhood. When we live like we're ready for Jesus' return, we live outside of ourselves. We replace the dehumanization with rehumanization. We become a community that restores the image of God in other people, previewing the reality of renewed world in Jesus' kingdom. So what does readiness look like? It looks like glorifying and enjoying God. It looks like blessing those around us with a strange, life-giving, sacrificial love. As we wait for Jesus' return, we display His forever reign today. We live God's future in the present tense. And that's really the whole point of our readiness. It's not about us. It's not about improving our behavior to somehow earn God's love or faithfulness. It's leaning on God's love and faithfulness that He's already fulfilled in Jesus. Our preparation is a response to His providential grace. The reason that we are ready is because the crucified, risen and reigning King is coming again to renew all of His creation. We stay dressed for action because He is steadfast in His love. We are prepared because He has promised to be with us through His Spirit as His Kingdom advances now and because He has promised to be with us forever when He returns to make all things new. The King is coming. Will you let His future form your life today? Heavenly Father, we praise you for your faithfulness to keep every promise you've made. Jesus, we depend on your reign today and we long for your expected return. Holy Spirit, form us into a people who display your Kingdom now. Help us live your future in the present tense. We pray all of this because of your grace, for your glory, and in your story. In Jesus' name, Amen.