Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Hello everyone.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is Pastor Benjamin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City Orlando.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com.
Gina Fickett: Please stand and join me in the prayer of illumination.
Gina Fickett: Gracious God, by your spirit, kindle our hearts that we might be a hopeful people.
Gina Fickett: Through your word, keep us from growing weary, that we may not miss the glory of Christ's appearing.
Gina Fickett: Even so, come quickly, O God.
Gina Fickett: Amen.
Gina Fickett: Today's gospel reading is from Luke 12, beginning in verse 35.
Gina Fickett: 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.
Gina Fickett: Blessed are those servants to whom the master finds awake when he comes.
Gina Fickett: Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.
Gina Fickett: If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them awake, blessed are those servants.
Gina Fickett: 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.
Gina Fickett: You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Gina Fickett: Peter said, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?
Gina Fickett: 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?
Gina Fickett: Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
Gina Fickett: Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
Gina Fickett: 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.
Gina Fickett: 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.
Gina Fickett: But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.
Gina Fickett: Every one to whom much was given, of him much will be required.
Gina Fickett: And from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
Gina Fickett: This is God's word.
Gina Fickett: Please be seated.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What shapes you most?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The past, the present, or the future?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Some of us in this room, we live in the glory days, right?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're like back in '82.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I could throw a football quarter mile.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like if I could just go back, I'd win states.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's where you kind of live most of the time.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Some of you, you live for the here and now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I mean, everything's just about living for the moment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Others of you, you're you're like a cat chasing a laser pointer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're always trying to figure out where the thrill and the future is going to come, but as soon as you get there, it kind of elusively slips through your fingers.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So which one shapes you most?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The past, the present, or the future.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a psychologist at Harvard named Daniel Gilbert, and he says in his book, Stumbling on Happiness, says it like this the human being is the only animal that thinks about the future.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So he goes on to say that our brain is basically an anticipation machine, and we're constantly making the future in our imaginations, and it's probably the most important thing that we do, according to Dr.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Gilbert.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, psychologists call this ability to predict how we will feel in the future, affective forecasting.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so, whatever your predictions of how you're gonna feel in some place and time in the future, whatever those predictions are, they actually shape your behavior and your attitude and your decisions here and now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's significant.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so in our text today, Jesus tells a parable.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And when he's telling this parable, he's not trying to help you predict the future, but he is trying to prepare you for the future.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's trying to help you develop a readiness for what's to come.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that word come actually repeated, is repeated ten times in our text, and it's the main point of what we're getting after here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So here's what I want to say.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If Jesus is coming back, then we want to be ready for his return, steady as his stewards and served at his table.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Ready for his return, steady as his stewards and served at his table.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Those are my three points.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's look at the text together.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you have a worship guide, a Bible, advice, get Luke chapter 12 in front of you, starting in verse 35.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We're going to look at how we want to be ready for his return.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Luke 12, 35 says this stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And be like men who are waiting for their master to come, here's that word, to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is significant.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This phrase from the wedding feast, it cues us to a cultural context that's a little different from our own.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the master of this household was going away to get married.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's going into another town or country, getting married, and he was gonna come back, and he was gonna bring his bride home with him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And when he and his bride came back, it was expected that the servants of the house would be prepared to meet him when he comes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, I don't know if some of you remember this, but um I grew up in the late 1900s, and back then, back then you'd have to tell people, you'd say, Hey, I'll meet you at the mall.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's another thing we'll talk about later.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I'll meet you at the mall, and you'd have to tell them a time and a location, and then just assume they're gonna show up.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And if you got there before that person, you just waited patiently for them to get there, and nobody got mad about it, actually, interestingly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, go even further back.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's no clocks, there's no find my friends, there's no GP, there's no way of knowing when the master was gonna come back from the wedding feast.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so the servants needed to stay awake, they needed to stay ready.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In fact, not only that, but they had to go out maybe a mile, two miles from the house with lanterns prepared in case the master would be coming, and and they could greet the master and his new bride and walk with them towards the house so that they were greeted with light and people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so the household had to stay awake.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that's exactly what Jesus says in verse 37.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, this word blessed, it occurs three times in our text.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Blessed is a word that means flourishing, fully alive, or just simply happy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Happy are the servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How is it that this expectancy, this wakefulness, creates happiness?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How does that work?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, all happiness comes from being present with whatever you love.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: All happiness comes from being present with the object of your love, your beloved.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I actually get this from Augustine of Hippo in his magnum opus called The City of God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He has this brilliant theory of emotion and love, and he says that every one of us has four core emotions.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The four things that we feel are desire, fear, sorrow, and joy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, desire is the pursuit of what you love.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Okay?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What you love is not with you, but you're pursuing it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's desire.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Fear is when what you love is being threatened.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I believe anger comes from that as well.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Sorrow is the felt sense of the loss of what you love.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And finally, joy is the possession of what you love.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, when you're in the presence of the object of your love, whether that be a person or a promotion or a vacation, you feel blessed.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's the word in our text here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So why is it that the servants are happy, joyful, blessed when the masters come, when the master comes back?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because they love his appearing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They long for him, they are eagerly awaiting him, they are anticipating his return.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, this is significant to us because Jesus is currently absent from us in body, and we feel that, and we desire his presence.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's why we pursue him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so we've been waiting, we've been keeping the flame of our affections lit by the oil of the Holy Spirit as we anticipate and stand ready for him to return.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How do you know if you're a Christian?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We live in a cultural context where being a Christian doesn't really mean much of anything.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How do you know if you're a Christian?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, because the deepest ache of your heart is, Come, Lord Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We long for you, we have affections for you, we desire you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Peter says it like this in his letter.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says, Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Though you do not now see him, you believe in him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, that's what Jesus is getting at.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And then in verse 38, he says, If he comes in the second watch or in the third, now notice Jesus is telling us that there is a possibility of delay in the master's return.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If he comes, maybe in the second watch, maybe in the third, and he finds them awake, blessed.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Here it is again, happy are those servants.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And here's the principle you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 40 summarizes this whole first half of our passage.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It summarizes it by giving us two truths and one response.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The first truth is this Jesus' coming is certain.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 40 says this the Son of Man is coming, full stop, period.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's he's coming back.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The second truth is this Jesus' timing is uncertain.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Those are the two truths.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So what's the right response to that reality?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Therefore, be ready for his return.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Cultivate an anticipation for Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Captivate yourself with the possibilities of when he comes back.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Have a readiness of heart and of life about you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What does this readiness look like in practice?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Does it look like circling the wagons, grinning and burying it, just waiting for the end of all things and letting the world go to hell in a handbasket?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Does it look like coming home unable to find anyone and panicking because you think you got lost in the rapture?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Does it look like watching the news, looking for the signs of the times, predicting Jesus' ETA?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Some of y'all have been Iran, Russia.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Come on, I'm just saying, hey, listen, all of those have been wrong, by the way.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Those predictions, all of them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that's because Jesus isn't asking us to know when he was returning.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is telling us to be ready for his returning and that that will shape our lives.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, our Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 33, on the last judgment, which I know some of y'all are reading devotionally this week.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's a joke.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Uh, says this because Jesus' coming is certain, because his coming is certain, it confronts us in our sinning and it comforts us, it consoles us in our suffering.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We have this confrontation with our sin because we know that that the reality is that no task is missed, but also no tear is wasted.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus remembers, he sees it all.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is the basis of the fear of the Lord.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This this reality that God is everywhere present and always aware of what's going on in our lives, and it confronts us in our sin and it comforts us, consoles us in our suffering.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what we get for the from the reality that Jesus is coming.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But what about the fact that Jesus' timing is uncertain?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, what it does is it keeps us vigilant and watchful, waiting, anticipating, which actually is the antidote to complacency and compromise.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Some of us have in this room have settled into a lazy Christianity.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Jesus is saying, be ready, cultivate watchfulness, anticipate.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I'm coming.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You don't know, you know it's happening, you just don't know when it's happening, and he's intentionally trying to stir us up.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Christianity is the only religion, the only worldview where it is actually good to stay awake, to be ready, to think rightly about reality.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What do I mean by that?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, every other worldview needs to kind of block out, bracket out some of its beliefs.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For instance, if you're a secular materialist, somebody who doesn't believe in any kind of transcendence beyond the material universe, the reality is our sun will burn out, our universe will grow cold and dark, and everything in your life is ultimately meaningless.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Most secular materialists don't keep that in front of their mind on a day-to-day basis because it would be depressing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But some of us in here live as if meaning in our lives is just simply self-created.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like you're the master of your own destiny.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You just kind of create whatever meaning matters for your existence.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And here's the thing: those fictions will not withstand pain.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, even other religions don't really offer the future that we need in order to live meaningfully in the present.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One of my favorite examples of this is from G.K.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Chesterton.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says, if you if you compare and contrast the art of Christians throughout history and Buddhists throughout history, you notice something.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says it like this No two ideals can be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese temple.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The Buddhist saint always has his eyes shut, while the Christian saint has them very wide open.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The Buddhist saint has a sleek, harmonious body with his eyes heavy and sealed with sleep.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The medieval saint's body is wasted to its crazy bones, but his eyes are frightfully alive.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says the Buddhist is looking with a peculiar intentness inwards.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If we follow that clue steadily, we shall find some interesting things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What is it that we'll find?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, we'll find that the return of Jesus not only gives us a future, but it actually shapes our present.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because if Jesus is coming back, then we want to be ready for his return, but also steady as his stewards.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Steady as his stewards.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's point two.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse 41.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Peter says it like this Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Peter's asking a good question, a question many of us ask when we read the Bible, which is, is this relevant?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is this relevant for me?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now here's the thing the context, the audience of Jesus' teaching was often to his disciples in the midst of crowds.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It actually shapes our preaching and teaching here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I assume there are people in this room who do not know Jesus, who do not belong to Jesus, who what we call not yet disciples, you're welcome.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We love having you here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I hope you feel no more welcome anywhere in the city of Orlando on a Sunday morning than right here with us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I assume that that's the case because Jesus assumed that was the case.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's why Peter asks the question Hey, is this for your disciples or for like everybody?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in kind of textbook Jesus fashion, he doesn't really give a direct answer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Instead, he just kind of elaborates on his story.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He goes on, and and and he does this thing where he actually separates kind of four different types of responses.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Only one of them's good, three are bad, we only have time for two.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So the two I want to look at are the faithful and the wise in verses 42 and 44, and then the faithless and the foolish.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So look with me at the faithful and the wise stewards in verse 42.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, notice here's the test.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Not only ready readiness for the master's return, but steadiness, faithfulness as the master's steward.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, this word manager here, it's an important word in the Bible.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's the word oikonomos, which is where we get the word economics from.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You'll notice in the text the manager is set over the master's household.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And first century households were they're different from what you think about as a household.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When you think household in this context, think Downton Abbey, not nuclear family.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: All right, that'll help you a lot.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so the households were large and complex.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They had three or four generations living there.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It was the source of economic production.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There were servants that worked in the house as well.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There were offices and workshops, right, built into the house, into the home.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like COVID didn't invent working from home.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's actually the way it used to be.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so when we see this household, this manager, this oikonomos, we see that he's kind of like a chief of staff over the master's house.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But he really has two things under his care: the master's stuff and the master's staff.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What I mean by that is he, this oikonomous, this master, this I'm sorry, this manager of the master's household, set over his household, manages the master's possessions, like food and drink and money, and manages the master's people, like male and female servants, even the master's children.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 42.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And the Lord said, Who then is this faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household to give them, here's the here's the task, to give them their food, their portion of food at the proper time.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Blessed, there it is again, happy is that servant whom his master finds, will find so doing when he comes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So you notice there's there's two tasks here, two things that matter to the master when he comes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One, what did you do with what I gave you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Two, how did you love those around you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What did you do with what I gave you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How did you love those around you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a book called Imagine Heaven by a guy named John Burke.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And what he did was he compiled hundreds, maybe even thousands, stories of near-death experiences, what are called NDEs, people who have been dead for minutes, sometimes long times, and they have these experiences where they're caught up into a spiritual reality, and then they come back, they're resuscitated, and they have stories to tell about what they experienced when they were dead.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's an amazing book.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Imagine having.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in chapter 17 is my favorite chapter in the book.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's called the Life Review.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, what he does is he basically draws out themes from these stories, countless stories.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And one of the themes is that people experience what they call a life review.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Christians, non-Christians, they all experience a lot of them experience this thing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Basically, what happens is they stand before Jesus, and Jesus' eyes are like a flaming fire.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In other words, he cannot be deceived.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You can't manipulate this man.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But his eyes are the kindest eyes they've ever seen.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And they experience this thing that happens where their life flashes before them almost like they're watching a movie reel.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But it's interesting because some things are there and some things are omitted.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One guy tells the story about how some of the points of his most proud accomplishments, like having a winning an award or making partner in his firm, are just totally omitted.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But moments where he said things out of self-protection, moments where he did things out of self-promotion, they were on the script.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And you see, at the end of this life review, they were asked two questions.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What did you do with what I gave you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How did you love those around you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so the reason why I say that is because our text is helping us here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is loving us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We don't need a near-death experience to know that you're going to give an account for the life that you've lived.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We have it in the Bible right here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is telling you right here, what does it look like not to waste your life?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, let me ask you, what do you think it looks like to waste your life?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He talks about that too.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 45.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is the faithless and the foolish steward.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 45 says this but if that servant says to himself, pause for a moment, Pastor Jason talked last.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: week about internal dialogue and the things we say to ourselves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is a common thing that happens in Jesus' parables.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This guy's talking to himself and and the reason why is because where do you where you direct your attention is like your first and most basic freedom.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Where you direct your attention might be one of the most important things about you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And one study says that we actually internally talk to ourselves at a rate equivalent to about 4,000 words per minute.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That means your inner voice is giving you 320 State of the union addresses every day.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And my hunch is, I'd be curious, what does your heart have to say to you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: My hunch is it's probably not King Jesus is coming back to make all things new.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: My hunch is it's probably strategies for self-protection and self-promotion, just like it was for this guy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So it goes on, but if that m if that servant says to himself, my master's delayed in coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Pause for a moment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If the wise and faithful use what they have to serve others, then the faithless and foolish use others to serve themselves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what Jesus wants us to see here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And if you don't live with a readiness for Jesus's return you will be tempted in two ways.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You'll be tempted to control and you'll be tempted to comfort.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice that that's right here in the text.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He begins to beat the male and female servants.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is a coercive control and to eat and drink and get drunk.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is a source of comfort.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see if you don't believe that Jesus is coming back to judge the living and the dead judging all things in righteousness to console the afflicted to punish the wicked to hold all people accountable then you will be tempted to coerce others and comfort yourself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This life is hard.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I'm going to get what I want in my way.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now we see this in our cultural moment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is actually exactly what we see because we lack a sense of transcendence and so we think we can control things like the current arms race for the first company or country to get to AGI or the the commitment to transhumanism to basically defy human mortality let me just give you a spoiler alert the problem of human mortality's already been solved.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Come back next week okay now here's the reality it's not just coercive control it's comfort it's it's this attempt you know there's this movie um about I think it maybe it's called Bohemian Rhapsody it's about uh the the way in which Freddie Mercury was living it up and having a great time there's this scene when his the one of the only people in his life actually loves him well comes to the front door he opens the door she walks in she looks around and sees cocaine and alcohol and he's just been binge partying and he looks back at her and he says to her the human life requires a little anesthetic we all are going to be tempted in the nihilism that comes from thinking nothing matters.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's no eternal reality there is no God in heaven if you live under that you will be tempted by the nihilism to just eat and drink and get drunk and to get a little anesthetic in your life that's the faithless and that's the foolish.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so Jesus kind of brings this all to a conclusion in verse 48 when he seems to finally answer Peter's question from verse 41 Lord are you telling this for us or for everybody?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 48 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 so is this for the disciples or is this for everyone the answer is yes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The answer is yes because the reason Jesus paraphrases Spider-Man's uncle here and says you know with those who have great power requires great responsibility the reason he paraphrases him there is because he's trying to get at this reality that underneath everything is what what you could call the givenness of reality God is a giver.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Doesn't matter if you're a Christian or a non-Christian all that you have has been given by you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The apostle Paul says what do you have that you did not receive if then you received it why do you boast as if you did not receive it Jesus is getting at that here he's saying everyone everyone has been given a lot everyone will be held accountable to what they've been given.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so here's the thing this this question of is this relevant for me it has immediate relevance and eternal significance because everyone in this room everyone in this world is either faithful or faithless wise or foolish knowing or ignorant willing or willful and these have real outcomes what is the result what does the future hold for the faithful and the faithless look at verse 44 truly I say to you he will set this is the faithful the faithful and wise manager over all his possessions I love this this is liberating because Jesus doesn't care if you've got beauty or wealth or status what he cares about is what did you do with what I gave you and how did you love those around you and he will reward you by letting you sit on his throne and have authority over all things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Recently I read Isaac Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk and and the core drive behind everything that Elon Musk does and will do is his his commitment to make humanity multiplanetary.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I just want to see that man and say brother it's already happened.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: King Jesus the one who holds all things all of the universe together by the word of his power will set his faithful and wise managers over galaxies.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like I just think about Jesus tells this story and it's as if you're standing before him and Jesus says hey you remember that time you gave a cup of cold water in my name?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're like yeah Jesus I remember that and he's like Andromeda galaxy it's yours and you're like whoa it was just a cup of cold water he's like I don't care I'm rich and I love giving people authority over things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what it means for humanity to become multiplanetary steward what God has given you and Jesus will set you over all things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what he says here in the text.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Dallas Willard says it simply he says you are a never ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's important to think about what you'll be doing in 10,000 years and to prepare for it now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now if this seems like sci fi or fairy tales where do you think they got it from you see it doesn't matter if it's Tolkien or Asimov the truth is not just stranger than fiction it's better than fiction this is a reality for us but the faithless and the foolish they also have something coming look at verse 46.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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 I have a friend this week who asked me hey what are you preaching on this upcoming Sunday I was like oh it's the watchful servants and he's like isn't that the worm where they get cut in pieces?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Yes it is that's exactly what the passage says here and and I was as offended by it as you might be but I've learned to pause where scripture gives me pause to assume there's something there.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If I'm offended by it I don't assume the Bible's the fault at fault I assume I am.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so I try to lean in a little bit more and this language actually significant cut him in pieces is about covenant unfaithfulness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see this language comes from the way in which master servant treaties were made in ancient Near Eastern culture called covenants.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And what would happen there's one we see actually in Genesis chapter 15 God tells Abraham to take an animal to cut it in half to lay the pieces opposite of each other and then to walk between the pieces and the purpose of it the meaningfulness of it is may I become like these animals if I break this covenant?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: May I be cut in pieces if I'm unfaithful.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So when we read that in the text to cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful it means that there was a covenant that was mutually consented to that's now been broken and there must be consequences.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen everyone in this room has been unfaithful.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Everyone in this room has broken covenant with God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Every single one of us if God dealt with us strictly on the basis of our faithfulness would stand under this judgment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But there's good news in Genesis 15 because God is the only one who walks between those pieces.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Abraham never does.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And what that means is that this is exactly what we see in Jesus you see at the cross Jesus is the one who is torn.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because he was unfaithful?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No because you were unfaithful.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see Jesus was the one who was torn so that we could be brought in so we could be treated as if we'd been faithful all along and so that not only that not only that would be good news if he treated us like as if we were faithful to the covenant all along that would be amazing but it goes on because not only do we lack the readiness for his return we're supposed to have not only have we failed in our steadiness as his stewards but but because of the cross of Jesus Christ we can actually anticipate being served at his table.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse 37 blessed are those servants happy 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see in verses 41 and 42 both Peter and the narrator that's Luke called Jesus Lord.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's actually the same word for master so you could translate verse 41 Peter said Master are you telling this parable for us or for all?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In verse 42 and the master said so there is no confusion who the master is in these parables what's going on here?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well if Jesus is the master of this text then what Jesus is doing is deliberately subverting the social class system of his day.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's stepping in as the master par excellence and taking the role of the servant.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see what he's doing?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because when he says that he will we will recline at table and he will come and serve us what he has in mind is what is called the end time messianic banquet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's talked about throughout the Old and New Testaments let me give you some selections verse uh Isaiah 256 says it like this the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples all peoples Jews and Gentiles men and women rich and poor moral and immoral all peoples the Lord will prepare a feast of rich food a feast of well aged wine of rich food full of marrow of aged wine well refined only the next chapter in the Gospel of Luke it says this in verse Luke 1329 and people will come from the east and the west from the north and the south and they will recline at table in the kingdom of God even as we come to this table here which is just a foretaste of that table there Jesus gives us this table in Luke 22 and he says this for who is the greater one who reclines at table or one who serves it is it not the one who reclines at table but I am among you as one who serves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Do you believe that Jesus is among us this morning serving us taking the form of a servant serving us through speaking to us serving us through feeding us at his table he goes on he says you are those who have stayed with me in my trials and I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel have you ever been at a dinner or an event or an environment where status kind of mattered?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like everybody's just kind of evaluating each other appraising who matters more in the room based on whatever the metric might be listen Jesus is the most high status the most high net worth person who's ever existed and he says I will dress myself for service and I will have you recline at table and I will come and serve you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Do you see what this does to earthly conceptions of who matters who has status who has net worth Jesus is flipping it all upside down.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The master becomes the servant and the servants become the served what does Jesus want from you today what does he want from you today well in verse 36 it says open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks in Revelation 320 he says if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and eat with him and he with me this is happening right now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus spoke those words to his church then he's speaking those words to his church now you see the question for you is do you hear his voice can you hear his knock we are uncertain when Jesus will come back but we are certain that he will come back C.S Lewis talks about it like this he says Christians think that Jesus is going to land in force we do not know when but we can guess why he's delaying he wants to give us the chance of joining his side freely God will invade but what is the good of saying that you are on his side then when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It will strike irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature and it will be too late then to choose your side there's no use in saying that you chose to lay down when it is impossible to stand up.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So turn to him now ask him for the faith to anticipate his coming because if Jesus is coming back then we want to be ready for his return we want to be steady as his stewards and we want to be served at his table.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's pray yes Lord Jesus come quickly Holy Spirit we know that that's your groan in the hearts of all who belong to you come Lord Jesus make all things new Jesus we praise you that we can look to that day with joy and anticipation because we look back at the day on the cross what we call Good Friday what a good day it was when you purchased us for yourself so now we have great hope of enjoying a feast with you in your kingdom we pray this all in your name Amen