A Call to Be Ready

For that inspiration, we will continue in this main message. The title of our sermon today is simply A Call to Be Ready. That's our title, A Call to Be Ready. To be ready for all that the Day of Trumpets represents. And with that, I invite you to open your Bibles and let's turn to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. And we're going to begin reading to set the foundation today, verses 35 through 40. Luke 12 verses 35 through 40 here. And with this passage, we are going to consider the clarity of the command to be ready. It is a command, and we're also going to consider what is the striking nature of the warning from the Son of God, Christ Himself. In it all, we will consider the impact that this passage should have as we anticipate the Son of God returning as symbolized in the Day of Trumpets. And before we begin reading, I'll just give you a little bit of my own warning. This is a difficult set of passages. We will see that as we get in this. It is going to be a little bit hard-hitting, and so I want to prepare you for that. But it is to our benefit. God loves us. He desperately wants us to be a part of His family beginning at the return of His Son, Jesus Christ. And so He does issue this command. Luke 12, beginning in verse 35. Here it is.

Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning, and you yourselves be like men who wait for their Master when He will return from the wedding. That when He comes and knocks, that they may open to Him immediately. Verse 37, Blessed are those servants whom the Master, when He comes, will find watching. Assurely I say to you that He, this is the Master, will gird Himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. Certainly a blessing. Verse 38, And if He should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the Master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, He would have watched and not allowed His house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Let's stop there.

So once again, we come to a passage of Scripture which punctuates the fact that life is not, as the Greeks believed, to be cyclical. I've mentioned this before, you know, those throughout history and one such people as the Greeks believed that essentially men and women in life and in history were on a kind of treadmill, if you will. I didn't matter if you casually walked on this treadmill, or if you hurried along, their belief was such that really life is going nowhere. Essentially it's going nowhere. We are routinely experiencing the same events really over and over again as history just repeats itself. This was the notion of the Greeks. It's also the notion, I'll tell you, of contemporary thought. Men and women today express this idea through phrases such as, you know, you only live once. This is it, really. Eat, drink, and be merry.

It's terminology like that, though, that points to the fact that men and women have absolutely lost their connection to the Bible. They have lost this whole notion that in fact history is linear. The Bible punctuates that in fact there was an absolute beginning, and just know there is going to be an absolute end, and it's coming. But again, men and women have lost their connection to the truth with the beginning of the world. Therefore, they have no connection with the end of the world. Men and women are unhinged from the knowledge of how it all began, and so they are disengaged from the belief of how it all will end. But here in this passage, the Son of God absolutely is putting forth the fact that there was God the Father in the beginning with the Son, Jesus Christ, and He now teaches His followers of the return, which will usher in an end. Again, an absolute contrast to the notion that the world will just keep going. It's really cyclical. The Bible says no. It's linear, definite beginning, a certain end. Everyone on the earth is moving toward an end-time appointment with the Son of God who will return. We need to then emphasize this fact and this command from the Son of God to be ready. Be ready. And that call, and it's really a call to turn our minds onto all that the Day of Trumpets represents, that call is in fact much more important than when the Son of God will return. When the Son of God will return is by no means unimportant. There's plenty of Scripture which we focus on throughout the year, urging us to look at the signs, to look at those things in prophecy. Absolutely. But while when is not unimportant, it is absolutely secondary to our preparedness for it. And that's the emphasis here, unmistakably clear. Look at verse 40 here again. Verse 40 again, Therefore you also be ready. The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. You can expect that. You can expect that he will come at an hour you don't expect. This is the command then to a call to readiness. It's a vital message. Why even put forth this command to God's people? Why is it important to focus on the Day of Trumpets and that trumpet that will sound ushering in the return of Jesus Christ? Why is this important? Well, this is not a profound statement, but it's a true statement. The fact is that men and women have the tendency, myself included, to put other matters as priority than that of our preparation for the return of Jesus Christ. But look at this. Look at this. Look at these verbs. Verse 35 again. Verse 35 again. There's no way to escape these verbs. Be dressed, be girded, lamps burning. Verse 36. Be like men. We could add, be like women who wait. Verse 37, the verb, be watching. Doesn't matter. Verse 38, if you're watching and the watch goes into the second or third watch. Verse 40, be ready. Going down to verse 46, he'll come when you're not looking. Verse 47, prepare.

We see this throughout Scripture. There are no underlining in Scripture, so the way they put forth emphasis is by repeating and repeating and just stacking action verbs on top of action verbs, and that's what's happening here. And also painting pictures. Here's the picture that would have been familiar to his listeners. It is that of a man, verse 36, returning from a wedding, coming home in the evening, and coming back in the context of that servant that had been waiting for him. And instead of the waiting, producing laziness, or neglect, the good servant in the watching and the waiting will be ready for service. The middle of verse 36, and with that, they can immediately open the door for him. So middle of verse 36, when he returns from the wedding, when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.

So it's almost as if this context where he's about to knock and the door is opening, he doesn't even get to the point. So he's not going around knocking, trying to wake people up, looking through the windows, if you will. They hadn't, a good servant hadn't fallen asleep, ready for action, because they know he's coming, and they want to be ready.

And it is that this picture of how my servant should be in the prospect of my return, the Son of Man says here.

And then you have this kind of archaic language, sort of, in there in verse 35, let your waste be girded. We've talked about this, you know, the picture here, it's the picture of it in the Old Testament. When they were waiting for the exodus out of Egypt, the Israelites ate that Passover meal, and their belt on their way, sandals on their feet, staff in their hand, dressed in such a way to get moving.

Of course, we don't wear flowing garments much anymore, especially men, although that style might be coming back, who knows. But at that time, when they were to be in a position to get moving, they would gather up their cloak and tuck it in to their belt in that way, so that nothing would impede them. So I want to bring this personal. Throughout all of this, I want you to know this is speaking to us today. So here it is. With the prospect of Jesus Christ's return, what in your life is impeding you to respond to the call for preparedness? What is it? What in your life is missing the mark at this time? You know, sin is simply this concept of missing the mark. We are called. We are granted grace and forgiveness. We are called to then be His representatives here on earth. We're waiting for His return, and there are aspects in our life where we are missing the mark. And the Bible calls us to identify those areas, bring them to God, ask for forgiveness, and then ask for the strength to get back on track. What is it? What is it that will impede you? You know, you women may know this, particularly maybe your wedding dress that you wore, or if you've worn a flowing garment. If the dress is just a little too long, and you start to try to move quickly, you know, your foot catches there.

It's the same concept here, and it's the same picture. We can't have anything impeding our movement toward the return of the Son of Man. What is it? When you're a young Christian, and you're moving into baptism, I've had this discussion, I'm doing many baptism counselors right now, some of the things typically are more obvious than where you're missing the mark. Boy, I need to cinch up in these kind of... sometimes they're obvious. They're even obvious sometimes where others can see where the young Christian is missing the mark. It's more tangible. It's more visually seen sometimes, and that's good.

You've got to cinch those things up and get moving. That's just the beginning, because you know if any of us who have been on this walk a little bit longer, we know that those areas that we're missing the mark often now are the unseen, and they often go into the thought realm. What are my motivations here? What is my attitude?

If I have anger problems, I can smile at someone and shake their hand and give them a hug and even eat with them, but in my heart that they can't see, no one else can see, I'm holding anger and bitterness. Well, I'm missing the mark. It doesn't matter if others can see it or not. God can see it. So that is a piece of my garment that has fallen down, has become ungirded, and will absolutely trip me up at the call of Jesus Christ at His return.

So be bringing this person. I want you to bring this person. We have to be ready for His return. Now, any time there is an admonition in Scripture, you will absolutely almost always find grace that comes right after it. You find this high call to righteousness, and then we also find a merciful, patient, grace-filled Savior that's there to help us. And this is what we find here.

Amazingly, what we find is when He returns and we open the door for Him, He comes and kneels down and girds His waist with garments to serve us. Look at this. And we're blessed because of this. Second part of verse 37, second part of verse 37, I surely say to you that when we open the door for Him, our servant leader, our precious shepherd who takes care of us, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. So as we are up and waiting for Him in the middle of the night, anticipating His return, perhaps we have become hungry and in our anticipation for Him, and we're thirsty, but we didn't want to move from the window, so we didn't want to miss Him.

So He comes then and sees us needing some nourishment. And the blessing that the Master pours on us is that He comes and has us sit down and serves us. Amazing grace, grace, grace. We can't outgive God, but God will not force us to the window to press our nose against the window and watch for Him and to prepare ourselves, but He will bless our efforts. He will bless our efforts beyond belief.

And we see this picture, we won't turn there, but Luke 22. What does He do? He girds Himself and washes their feet. They're at the institution of the Passover symbols, the New Testament Passover symbols. What a blessing! So we will be blessed. Verse 37 again, blessed are those servants whom the Master, when He comes, will find watching. We'll be blessed.

Blessed. So don't give up. Verse 38, if He should come at the second watch or come at the third watch, He needs to find us doing so. He says, all right, some of us can grow weary, understandably so, while we wait, while we wait.

This is a time to not grow weary, and this is a time to not give up. In fact, it's just the opposite. This is the time to be stirred up and on fire in anticipation for His return, the spirit of readiness. So are you ready? Are you dressed? Are your lamps burning? Let's begin to bring it more personal, if you will.

How many moments have you spent in the last week thinking of the return of Jesus Christ? And upon that thinking, how has it changed you this week? Think of one tangible activity, thought, where the return of Jesus Christ washed over it and spurred you to a new action or new activity to get back on the mark. Did it alter one phone call that you made or didn't make? You know, I've been meaning to connect with this individual. Another week has passed. But you know, the return of Jesus Christ is coming, and I cannot delay. Did the thought of the return of Jesus Christ cause you to hold your tongue when you wanted to express some anger towards someone? Justified or unjustified? Did it cause you to hold your tongue? Because you know that's not representative of the one who's returning, and I want to become like Him. Did the return of Jesus Christ cause you to deepen your prayer to mend a broken relationship? Did it do anything at all? Did the thought of Jesus Christ return do anything at all?

Well, the urging from Scripture here today is we need to remember He's coming, and we need to continue to put on these righteous garments in preparation. You know, our light needs to be shining, shining bright as a beacon. So when the Son of Man returns, He's able to say, oh, there's one of mine, there's another, I can see their light. It's shining bright, you know, for me. Because He will come at a time that we're not expecting. That's verse 39 again. If we had known, if the master of the house had known, whatever the thief was coming, He would have watched and not allowed His house to be broken into. The broken into verb there actually kind of has this notion of being, of bashing. And I just think of the mud brick houses back then. You might have, I don't know, maybe perhaps been able to with some effort bash into a house, literally in that way. And of course, if the master was there, he could have put a stop to it. He was anticipating the burglar, if you will, the thief. But there's this unexpected nature to this. I've told this story before. I've probably told it a couple of times. I gotta tell it again. It was reported as a true story. A couple routinely parked their car in their garage. And they had done this for many years because their neighborhood wasn't wasn't that great of a neighborhood. Had some higher crime rates. But one day, the husband was doing some work and had some of his woodworking materials in the garage to the wife's grief. So she was unable to pull their car into the garage. So she had to leave it out by the curb. Well, wouldn't you know it? They went to sleep that night, only to arrive the next morning to discover the car was gone. Someone had stolen it. So they went through the appropriate husband-wife quarrel and the appropriate police reports. But then, remarkably, a few days later, the car returned. They woke up a few days later. There was the car at the curb. They run out there and they discovered that there on the windshield wiper was a note. And the note was from the thief.

And the note was thanking the couple for the use of their car and apologizing to them for their inconvenience.

In order to make things right, the thief wrote, I'm leaving you two tickets to the theater.

So the husband and wife went to the theater that night, only to discover that the thief reappeared and burglarized their home while they were gone.

I don't know if it's a true story or not.

All that to say, perhaps this isn't a good connection here, but we're going with it. If they would have known that the thief was going to return, of course they would have been prepared to prevent it. But there was this unexpected nature of his arrival that played into it.

We could probably think of some other connections, but to that point, what Luke is putting forth here in the words of Jesus Christ is there's absolutely going to be an unexpected nature to the return of Jesus Christ. So if you know there's going to be an unexpected nature to it, when is the time to prepare? If you and I start to scramble at the end to prepare, we might not be ready in time.

So we have a loving son of man warning his beloved brethren. This is a loved one saying, hey guys, we got to get this ready. We got to get ready.

And in response to the warning, we have one of my favorites, Peter, who always speaks up to say those things that nobody else wants to say. It's like that person in the classroom where the student needs to ask a question, but it's just too much to raise their hand. And then they're so thankful if someone else raises their hand and asks. And then you look at that person and think, how do you not know that? But then you're anticipating the answer, and you're glad that they asked it. That's Peter here. And Peter says, well, we got to know verse 41. Continuing down to verse 41, Peter says to him, Lord, do you speak this parable only to us or to all the people? So I'm sure the disciples were there, and he gestures to them, are you speaking this to us or to all the people here? There was a multitude there. If you go up to verse one, it does speak of a multitude there in the context here. But Luke records that Jesus Christ began to speak to his disciples first of all, you see. First of all. And in a way, of course, God calls his firstfruits first of all. So the Bible is primarily speaking to those, first of all, who are called at this lifetime. But these words, the Bible, the books will be open to those after the thousand years to understand, and the Book of Life will be open to them at that time. But these books in the Book of Life are open to us today, so he speaks to us first of all. So this command to be ready is to us. And even though you have kind of some there in verse 13, even though you have the crowd chiming in, there is no doubt that Jesus Christ here is speaking to his people, Peter and those and his followers that he had called at this lifetime.

Christ doesn't answer Peter directly there. Who are you speaking to? Instead, he turns and poses another question there in verse 42.

So there would have been those in the context to hear his voice, but he's primarily speaking to his own. And there in verse 42, he begins to say to tell them a story here.

And he describes another scene here, and it's the story beginning there in verse 42 of a master or an owner of an estate who leaves and then delegates oversight to other servant managers, if you will. So you see the context here. The master leaves and he delegates oversight of his estate to a servant manager and turns over responsibilities. And one of the responsibilities is to provide food in due season. So you see the context here and bring this to us today. And Christ says if the manager is a faithful and wise one, he's going to, verse 42, use this period of time in the owner's absence to make sure everything's taken care of. Verse 42, he'll make you ruler over the household so that you can give them their portion of food in due season here. And verse 43, blessed is the servant whom the master will find so doing when he comes. So there is a aspect of service in the spirit of readiness here. A faithful servant will find so doing. And there's a blessing here. Verse 44, if he finds us so doing, truly I say to you, verse 44, that he will make him ruler over all he has. So you've done a wonderful job and now you have this servant manager being promoted, if you will. And we know after Christ returns that Christ is going to put us his own over all these other responsibilities and over his estate, if you will. And we'll be blessed in that way. So we got to be faithful in the small and he'll trust us to be faithful in the large. A wonderful blessing here.

We glorify God in this lifetime and then there's coming a day when he will glorify us after his return. And we see that there in verse 44. So receive that. Let it just warm you for a little bit because Jesus is about to lovingly flip the coin, if he will. And beginning in verse 45, he says, but, and he's going to give us the other side.

No loving master would leave his people unknowing of the other side. And here it is. And this is the difficulty coming here that I prepared you for, hopefully. Verse 45, but if that servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him in an hour when he is not aware and will cut him into and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Let's stop there. So if the servant uses the master's delay for self-acting cruelty or uses the delay unjustly, he will be severely punished. Verse 46, let's let it say what it says. Cut him into and appoint him in his portion with the unbelievers. Striking statement. Striking statement. It matters how we live while we wait for the son of man's return. If we don't wait with a spirit of readiness, our portion of the inheritance which God wants to give us will be removed and will be portioned with the unbelievers.

And we just cannot lose this opportunity. What we have before us, it's precious. Man, it's precious. And so we want to use these kind of warnings, not as a means to weigh us down or get us depressed. No, use these words to rejuvenate you in the year to come, in this next year, in the years ahead. We have a master who is ready to come in and nourish us and gird his waist and help us and wash our feet. And we have that kind of servant. So he's just urging, come on, you can do this. You can persevere. Find out what's going to get you tripped up along the way. And with my help, get that out of your life. I need to do a work through you.

So there's a responsibility in anticipating with readiness in his return. This, you know, if you think about this, the cut up and being portioned with the unbelievers, you know, this really speaks to a major aspect of the Day of Trumpets. And it's this it's this aspect of judgment. Judgment. If you look at the 21st century mind, especially those young people, I don't know if they have a healthy understanding of a judgment day that's coming. Perhaps us that have been on this walk a long time, perhaps we don't have as proper a healthy understanding of a judgment. This is where circle thinking will get us into the next phase. Circle thinking will get us in trouble. We cannot fall into the notion that time's going to keep coming. I have time. The world goes on. I'll get cinched up soon. No, think linear. Think linear. There is a judgment day coming. An end to the journey of our lives. And none of us know when that end will come. So we cannot allow any notion that we have time. Today is the day where God's called. So what kind of servant are you? Well, the parable is not done. We're going to feel a little bit more weight here of this passage. So let's just really sit in this for a while. Verse 47 and 48. The parable continues. It gets even heavier. Verse 47 and 48. And if that servant knew his master's will, all right, bring this personal. If that servant knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, that servant shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know the master's will, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required, and to whom much has been committed, of him they shall ask the more. So let that rest on you a little bit. Did you know that phrase, you know, I've used that phrase to whom much is given, much is required. I've used that phrase throughout the years just kind of light-hearted, you know. I've even used it maybe in joke situations, and you know, it's okay. There's time for levity. But maybe some don't know the context by which this verse emerges of to whom much is given, much is required. And look at this! Yes, we are given such, such an opportunity to be a first fruit, such a great blessing of honor, the prospect of honor, that the one who knows the master's will, we know the master's will. Our minds have been open to it. We know it. And if we don't prepare ourselves, then there's more stripes that are in store.

We have been given the knowledge. Those of us who have been baptized, we've been given the power to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished. So the only thing that's standing in the way is our resistance to it, our hard heart. We have the call. We have the power to accomplish all that we need to accomplish. So what's standing in the way? Ask yourself that. What garments in your life will cause you to trip up? Identify them. Ride them down. Bring them to God. Ask for mercy. Ask for forgiveness. And then ask for... Sometimes I don't even want to give up some of the areas I'm missing the mark in because they're so comfortable. And there's some sin in my life that... it's like a warm blanket. It's those things that I've turned to to relieve anxiety, to relieve whatever it may be. I turn to sin with the prospect of that being the answer and giving the relief. And what you find... I know you know what I'm talking about. When you turn to those measures, you end up being lower than you were before. It's a false relief. If you're turning to any sinful behavior for comfort and help, it will give you a temporary comfort and help. But just on the other side of it, it's destruction. You know that. You feel lower than you were before, and you wish you hadn't done it, whatever it is. So we have to turn to God who provides the actual help in time of need. And I know that when you have turned to God in those areas, on the other side of it, you feel just a euphoria, a tangible lightness. Boy, why do I ever choose the other way? Why do I ever choose the other way? It's bewildering sometimes in our humanity. But those are the areas... this back and forth with missing the mark, asking for forgiveness, missing the mark. We need to make progress. It's okay. God's grace is there, but we need to make some tangible progress in the upcoming year. And that's what we're speaking about today in lieu of Christ's return.

We need to have our noses pressed up against the window. If you have had any children or grandchildren in the anticipation of a parent or grandparent coming over, they run over there. Even the dogs anticipating it. It's that kind of anticipation that God the Father and His Son are looking for from us. So looking, watching. And I think the shock of the unexpected nature of Christ's return, the real shock is not in those who are not, first of all, who Christ is speaking to, those who aren't called. The real shock you see in Scripture when Christ returns are those who say, I thought I did all these things in your name. Of course you know me. Didn't I do this and do this and do this? And Christ says, I don't know you. I didn't know you. You didn't make progress. You didn't honor my relationship. You didn't keep my commandments. You didn't strive with all your heart, mind, and soul to honor the precious gift my Father and I are giving you. And that's where this real shock comes in. That's what you see in Scripture. So we can't find ourselves in that position. We need to find ourselves spurred to righteousness by God's grace and His love.

In preparing for this sermon, as we begin to kind of draw it to a close, I come across all kinds of imagery. Imagery helps me, but I came across before before like sonic and radar equipment on a ship. They had a crow's nest. I know you read this and the individual would climb up the crow's nest and watch for icebergs. And he had to yell in plenty of advanced notice. He had to be watching so that they could steer the ship away from any potential disaster with these icebergs. And he's up there in the freezing cold at night, in the second watch, in the third watch, to warn of any pending peril.

And we could say there's many icebergs in our preparation for the return of Christ. But perhaps the greatest iceberg of all is the iceberg of tomorrow.

So I want you to remove any notion of your preparation for the return of Jesus Christ. I want you to remove tomorrow from your lips and your mind. And I want you to be thinking today, today, today, today. The devil's favorite word, it said, is tomorrow.

Therefore, we need to today be ready, be trusting, be obeying, today be following, living in your purpose. We want to live or die in our post, watching, watching.

So, as we conclude, it is a rather uncomfortable feeling, right? This isn't a comfortable study, but sometimes it's good to be uncomfortable from time to time.

What will bring about your condition of readiness? Will it be a more urgent warning? Will it be a more striking call? Consider the shortness of our life and the uncertainty of time that remains in your life. And don't ignore the call or harden your heart. Don't distant yourself from the calls of offer of mercy and grace. We want to finish today as a child of God, and every morning, thanking God, thank you for another day. Let me glorify you today, Father. Let me glorify you today and show me the areas that I need to cinch up so that I can be ready for your son's return. I want to be ready today. Help me be ready. Help me to deeply know that your son is returning and let that drive all the days of my life. Individually, and as a group, we need to renew our commitment today, have our waist skirted, lamps burning. Let's be men and women, prepared that when he comes, we're able to open the door immediately to be with him forever. This is your call to be ready.