Monday, August 25, 2014
Bible Lesson: Parables -Our Lord's: Faithfulness Of Servants.
Bible Lesson: Parables -Our Lord's:
Faithfulness Of Servants.
Occasion: Time Of Testing.
Lesson: Faithfulness Leads To
Reward.
Bible Texts:
Matthew 24:45-51 KJV
45 Who then is a faithful and wise
servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give
them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his
Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That He
shall make him ruler over all His goods.
48 But and if that evil servant
shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his
fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The Lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
Luke 12:42-46 KJV
42 And The Lord said, Who then is
that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over
His household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant, whom His
Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
44 Of a Truth I say unto you, that
He will make him ruler over all that He hath.
45 But and if that servant say in
his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming; and shall begin to beat the
menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
46 The Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is
not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his
portion with the unbelievers.
The Master is away,
but He has placed His trustee, His guardian in charge over all His
land, goods and servants.
Reward, depends
upon the guardians faithfulness.
Matthew 24:46,47
KJV
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his
Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That He
shall make him ruler over all His goods.
Luke 12:42-44
KJV
42 And The Lord said, Who then is
that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over
His household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant, whom His
Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
44 Of a Truth I say unto you, that
He will make him ruler over all that He hath.
In the perfect
world all would be fine, but our world is far, far from that. In our
world, stewards, decide just how faithful they wish to be.
Jesus, here
mentions the unfaithful steward.
Matthew 24:48-51
KJV
48 But and if that evil servant
shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his
fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The Lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
Luke 12:45,46
KJV
45 But and if that servant say in
his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming; and shall begin to beat the
menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
46 The Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is
not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his
portion with the unbelievers.
What were the
downward steps of the unfaithful steward?
Faulty Reasoning:
Matthew 24:48
KJV
But and if that
evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth
His coming;
Luke 12:45 KJV
But and if that servant say in his
heart, My Lord delayeth His coming;
The Master did not
arrive, when the steward, thought He should, and as a consequence,
begins to think that His coming would be delayed.
His faulty
reasoning, led to faulty actions, actions that did not reflect The
Masters care and concern for His goods or servants.
Matthew 24:49
KJV
And shall begin to smite his fellow
servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
The steward was
once a mere servant as the others, but now he has become drunken with
wine and power.
John Emerich Edward
Dalberg (English Historian, 1834-1902) Once stated....
“Power corrupts,
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Luke 12:45 KJV
“...and shall begin to beat the
menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
What would be the
Judgment of The Master, when He returns?
Matthew 24:50,51
KJV
50 The Lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
Luke 12:46 KJV
The Lord of that servant will come
in a day when he looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is not
aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion
with the unbelievers.
Not, a demotion,
but a degradation to the place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth,”
a description Jesus gave to a place called, hell.
Matthew 8:12 KJV
But the children of the kingdom
shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 22:13
KJV
Then said The King to the servants,
Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer
darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:30
KJV
And cast ye the unprofitable servant
into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.
Luke 13:28 KJV
There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, and all the prophets, in The Kingdom Of God, and you
yourselves thrust out.
So, we must ask
ourselves, at this juncture, what was the import of our Lord's
teaching to His disciples?
The glaring
truths are:
We are His disciples.
We are His entrusted stewards,
called to care for and to feed all His servants.
We are to be living expecting His
imminent return.
We are to be faithful unto death.
Not to be faithful,
means eternal loss of life, and eternal loss of reward.
Everyday “we”
choose, just what kind of servant we are.
Revelation 22:11
KJV
He that is unjust, let him be unjust
still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that
is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let
him be holy still.
Matthew 16:24
KJV
Then said Jesus unto His disciples,
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me.