Who Then Is A Faithful Servant?
Matthew 24:45
The significance of Matthew 24 is that it tells us what to do between the time Jesus comes for us and the time that we live in right now. What do we do until Christ comes? What did the Savior tell the disciples to do? We don't know when He is coming. We don't know the day or the hour. He said not even the angels of heaven know. We know that Satan does not know. Only God the Father knows. So, what are we to be doing? Jesus is providing the answers to those questions, including how to be a wise and faithful servant.
Notice again Matthew 24:45
During those days, two-thirds of the world was servants, slaves. And they were confined to work for wealthy owners. So the disciples could relate to what He was talking about. A wealthy owner would have several slaves. And then he would have more trusted servants that he would put in charge of the lower servants.
The more trusted servants would have jobs of administration, jobs of oversight, because if a man had a lot of holdings, he couldn't supervise it by himself. So he would find someone who had a gift of administration, a gift of organization and he would put that person in charge over other men and women in his household or in his operation who were his servants.
And that is the word picture that Jesus uses here. He says that you and I are His servants. And that He has entrusted to us responsibilities and we are to oversee the affairs of His work.
Now, what is the work of Jesus Christ until He comes again? Well, it is kingdom work. And the Kingdom of God is made up of people. And we are to administer the affairs of the Kingdom, to seek and to save that which is lost, to minister to those who are broken in heart.
Do you remember how Jesus took the prophecy of Isaiah and described why He Himself had come into the world? He said, "I have come to anoint the eyes of the blind that they may see." He said, "I have come to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, to preach salvation." "I have come to open the door of the prison and set the captives free." "I have come to heal the broken in heart." "I have come to heal the bruised." So you and I have been put in charge of all of these responsibilities until the Lord comes back again.
Now by way of reminder, last week we discovered
1. A Faithful Servant Labors Toward the Coming of Christ
Knowing that our Lord is coming back, knowing that He said watch for you don't know the day or the hour when the Son of Man comes, we labor faithfully toward the coming of the Lord. Not in order to be saved but because we have been saved. He has made us stewards over our talents, our time, and over our treasure and we are responsible for what we do with it.
And we work, understanding that the Lord is returning at some point.
2. A Faithful Servant Looks To the Coming of Christ
A faithful servant longs for the coming of the Lord. In the day in which we live, we long for the rapture of the church. I think the longer you live, the more you long for the rapture. And certainly the more physical ailments you have the more you long for the rapture. The closer you get to physical death, the more you long for the rapture. The more loved ones you send over to the other side, the more you long for the rapture
Now it seems to me like a lot of Christians don’t long for and look for the coming of the Lord. It’s easy to get very short-sighted and comfortable here. And maybe some would just as soon He didn’t return because of what they are involved in. But for the child of God that understands Scripture and serves the Lord faithfully, there are some things that prompt us to long for His coming. For instance
We labor with
1. His Promise.
The wise and faithful servant has the Lord’s promise in mind. The early New Testament church in the days of Peter and the days of Paul and even in the next century after their deaths, was a persecuted church.
Many lost their lives because they would not bow to an image of Caesar and say Caesar is lord. They were tortured. The Bible says they were thrown to lions. They were sawn in half. They wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins and had no homes.
And yet, Hebrews 11:13 says “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
They didn’t receive the promise. Jesus didn’t return at that time, and they faced all of this persecution and were martyred for their faith looking for, longing for the coming of the Lord.
How did they do that? Because they held that promise dear. That promise is referenced there in Matthew 24:46: “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when He come. . .”. Not “if “ he comes, but “when”.
Mark it down big and put it down bold: He is coming again. And blessed is that servant who Longs for the coming of Christ because of His Promise.
Secondly, if a faithful servant longs for the coming of Christ it means he serves with
2. His Passion.
Matthew 25:21
I believe Jesus was a passionate person. When He saw people being cheated in the temple and He saw they were being overcharged for the exchange of their money, He drove the moneychangers out of the temple. And He overturned their tables and drove their animals out.
When He saw the hypocrisies of the Scribes and Pharisees He called them vipers and whitewashed sepulchers full of dead men’s bones. Your religion has no life.
Jesus had a passion as He went toward the cross. The Scripture says He set His face toward Jerusalem and nothing could stop Him. Jesus was a man of passion and you and I ought to serve Him with passion. A wise and faithful servant longs for the glorious appearing of Christ. That means we serve Him with the Master's passion.
I get so tired of weak-kneed, namby-pamby Christians who mope around with dead ice falling off of them. Unmoved by the claims of Christ, they trudge through their miserable Christian experience with timidity and mediocrity and casualness.
Well-described by Jesus, they are “neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm”, turning the stomach of Christ Himself to the point of nausea.
Did you ever watch Ben Hur? Watch it some time. You’ll come to a scene where Ben is chained in the depths of a boat, forced to row in unison with a hundred other prisoners.
When you look at the face of those men, you will see what I see on many Sunday mornings. He rows as one who has no hope.
They have a little music director beating on a drum so they can keep time. Another song, another sermon, another Lord’s day, another mission project.
I want to encourage you when you leave today, check under the pew where you are sitting. You will discover there are no chains there. And explain to me, if you can, why we serve the King of Kings, and Lord of Lord’s, the soon-coming, forever reigning Master with such drudgery of spirit.
Those who long for the coming of Christ serve with His Passion.
Number three, a faithful servant longs for the coming of Christ because he serves with
3. His Purity.
You and I have no purity of our own. We have no righteousness of our own. We have no sinlessness of our own. We are only righteous because Jesus has declared us righteous.
We have righteousness because God has said we are righteous because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
But there is a little commentary oh that found in I John 2:28
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
That means to keep on. That means to be persistent in your walk. That means to be faithful, "continue in Him, abide in Him so that when He appears".
The word translated “appears” is one of three words that speak of the second coming of Christ in the New Testament.
It means a sudden appearance. "So that when He suddenly appears without expectation, without any warning, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming."
And so we serve with the Master's purity if we long for His appearing, if we look for His appearing, if we really desire Jesus to come and receive us unto Himself, then this is something that will keep us pure in our walk with Christ.
And by the way, the reference here is not to imputed righteousness, but instead the practice of righteousness in our daily lives.
The Bible says if you long for the second coming of Christ you will purify your self. What does that mean?
That means you will confess your own sins, God won't have to judge you. God won't have to discipline you. God won't have to give you a spanking. God won't have to send judgment on you.
No, you will be convicted and you will confess your own sins because you know He is returning and you don’t want to stand before Him unashamed and unafraid.
A faithful servant longs for the coming of Christ. He serves with His promise. He serves with His passion. He serves with His purity.
And fourth, he serves with
4. His People.
He is not an isolated servant of God. He is not a lone ranger Christian. He is not over here doing his own thing but he is involved in fellowship with other believers.
There are so many today who want to have the privilege of salvation with none of the responsibilities of the church.
They want do their own thing or maybe not do anything. They don't want to submit to the authority of the pastor. They don't want to be under the influence of teacher. They don't want to be connected to other believers.
I’m just of the opinion if you are born again into the family of God, you’ll want to get involved with and serve alongside the family in what they’re doing.
And if you are looking of the Lord to return and you don’t want to be ashamed when it happens, then you are going to have to be busy serving and what better place to do it than with the church?
Why? Because Jesus is a part of it. It is His life blood. It is His body! It is His passion! It is His Church! And the church will be here when Jesus comes again. It will still be in business. The church is eternal, undefeated, and victorious! And I want to serve my Lord through my church because I long for His Coming.
So a faithful and wise servant labors toward and look to the coming of Christ, and then finally
3. A Faithful Servant Lasts Till the Coming of Christ.
I mean by that, he doesn't give up. The doctrinal tem for that is “perseverance of the saints”.
Now follow very closely, because I don’t want to be misunderstood here:
Some will tell you that to “not persevere” means you have lost your salvation.
Scripture in fact teaches that if you don't persevere it is a sign you never had it to begin with. Adrian Rogers used to say, “A faith that fizzles before the finish was faulty from the first.”
If you are saved, you will persevere to the end. That is what the Bible teaches. If you are truly born again then the Scripture says you are born of an incorruptible seed, the Word of God that lives and abides forever.
You have something in you that the fire cannot burn, that water cannot drown, that the sword cannot kill, that the devil cannot intimidate. You have something within you, the Holy Spirit, that will persevere.
Jesus says here in our text, “Who is a faithful servant?”
Good servants are faithful servants.
Look at Matthew 24:46. Jesus in the parable says, "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing."
In his first letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 3:9-15
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
What will the Lord find you doing when He comes? Will He find you so doing? Will He find you faithful?
