Sermon Tone Analysis

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.

37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.

I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.

39 But understand 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.

40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”

42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?

43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.

44 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk.

46 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.

He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

47 “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

DON’T HOLD BACK

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Did you hear about two Northwest Airline pilots that overshot their destination?

The FAA revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots after their airplane flew for 91 minutes out of contact with the ground and overshot their destination city by 150 miles.

The revocation took place because of recklessness caused by “inattention.”

Airline pilots must direct their aircraft safely from Point A to Point B. However, these pilots had their personal laptops on in the cockpit and were researching job conditions and scheduling rules brought about by Northwest’s recent purchase by Delta Airlines.

They wanted to know how their job situations were changing.

While that is understandable, that was not their assigned task.

They took their eye off their primary responsibility and gave their attention to something of lesser importance.

Keeping the most important thing, a priority is important for everyone, not just airline pilots.[i]

Have you ever missed your destination?

We come to a passage in Luke today that calls for watchfulness, vigilance, care and attentiveness.

So far in chapter twelve of the Gospel of Luke we’ve heard Jesus warn the Pharisees and scribes and refer to them as hypocrites—play actors.

Next we heard Jesus tell a crowd of people a story about a rich farmer who really was a fool.

Last week, we heard Jesus tell His disciples not to worry.

Chapter 12 is a hard chapter full of hard thoughts.

Let’s pray!

“God of all grace, You call us to be attentive and watchful.

Help us to hear Your Words of life this morning and help us to put them in to practice.

May we never hold back from You—Lord of lords and King of kings.

Amen”

35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.

37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.

I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.

39 But understand 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.

40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”

42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?

43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.

44 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk.

46 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.

He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

47 “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.[ii]

BLESSED HOPE --- LIVING HOPE

At Christmas time, we have a season called “Advent.”

Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus” which means “coming.”

During the four weeks leading up the Christmas, we prepare for the coming of the Christ Child.

Advent is about waiting and watching for the coming of the Christ child into our world.

That’s referred to as “The First Coming of Christ.”

Do you know there will be a Second Coming of Christ?

There are three different Greek words are used by the apostles to express this thought of Christ’s second coming.

Isn’t this a timely message seeing that the path of totality is happening tomorrow?

(1.) apokalupsis (; ; ; , ); do you hear APOCALYPSE?

Destruction of a cataclysmic scale.

(2.) parousia (, ; ; , ); means presence or coming.

(3.) epiphaneia (; ; ; ) Epiphany—the manifestation of Christ.

There are 27 books in the New Testament and in these 27 books, there are 260 chapters.

The Second Coming or Christ’s return is mentioned no less than 318 times in these 260 chapters.

Statistically, someone figured it out that the ratio is 1:25 meaning one verse in twenty-five verses mention the Lord’s return.

The only books in the New Testament that don’t mention the Second Advent are Galatians and the tiny letters of 2 and 3 John.

The Second Coming, The Day of The Lord, The Future Hope was a “hot topic” for the early church.

They waited and they watched and they hoped for the Second Coming of Christ.

Let’s look at a few of those passages;

But our citizenship is in heaven.

And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

(-2)

16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will be with the Lord forever.

18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

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Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.

So shall it be!

Amen.

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The Apostle Peter called the Second Coming of Christ a “Living Hope” in and the Apostle Paul called the second coming of Christ a “Blessed Hope” --- “while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” ()

So what is your blessed and living hope?

Today’s teaching by Dr. Luke tells us that Jesus wants his disciples to be prepared.

Are we prepared?

BE READY!

Today’s reading teaches us to be ready.

Jesus gives two stories to illustrate this point.

The first story is about a wedding.

In the times of Jesus, a wedding could last four or five days.

Jesus tells the disciples about the master who comes back from the wedding, the servants need to be dressed and ready.

The servants need to keep their lamps burning.

The servants need to keep awake even if it is the second or third watch of the night.

Jesus is telling His disciples to be ready, no matter the time, date, hour or minute.

Jesus now turns the tables upside down when he says that the master will take off his robe and start serving the servants.

“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.

I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”

What a wonderful, blessed and living hope.

Jesus, the Master, serving us—His disciples.