No Idle Wait

(10-31-04)

Lk.12:35-44

          Who ever said waiting was idleness? Jesus is coming this is a fact, what he comes back in expectation of finding is a question worth the asking. Truth is Jesus has been in the midst of His people all along as they build His Church. Truth is we have no idea how many times we have been visited by our Lord and by those He has sent, His angels.

          If you drew a large rectangle that represented the Church that Jesus has been building, being mindful that this box includes everything that Jesus has designed to belong in His Church, what would be in it?



Now consider our Church here in Morton. Is the box that contains us equal to the Church that Jesus is building? Does what we teach equal what Paul and Peter and Philip and James and Apolo and Barnabus and especially Jesus? Do we live out our faith like they lived out theirs? If Jesus stood up right now in the middle of this auditorium would He find peoples lives and hearts equal to his designs for the Church?

"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?” (Lk.12:42) To whom do we owe our allegiance? If the Church is the Lords, then it should be equal to His desires and expectations or we will suffer for it. (read Lk.12:45-47)  

          Jesus is the Lord and Master, He is King and His will is to be honored and obeyed on earth even as it is in heaven. If we are His subjects and this is His church then what should we be like? You might be tempted to say ‘hey, we are the Church of Christ, we practice the 5 acts of worship correctly and we do baptism by immersion and sing with no instrumental accompaniment and,…and…!’ Stop! Don’t do that.

What should the Church be doing to bring these words to the Masters lips – ‘well done good and faithful servants.’ Are we teaching truth? (the mark of teaching is transformed lives, are lives being changed?) The light of the Gospel must bring light or it is not the gospel. Does our lives, having been presumably transformed by the light of the truth look different than that of the unbelievers life?

What we do when we gather corporately is important; when we pray, do we expect the mighty hand of God? When we sing are our hearts glorifying God with the understanding of lives lived in faithfulness? When we partake of the Lords super, is it a proclamation of Jesus’ death till He comes again? Do we serve one another because it is the transformed desire of our hearts or because we are suppose to?

Am I being harsh or abusive? Better for me to be a little so than for the Master to come in judgment and you find you are counted with the unbelievers. I am going to say  something here that may be  unsettling but I believe it to be true: it is a far better thing to be found laboring than at ease. We have been given command to go and do, it is the judgment of scripture that it is wickedness to do nothing, and for what reason, permission? (see  Mt.25:14-30; Lk.19:11-27 )  The command still echoes through the ages: “Go and Do!”  “Go and Do!”    “Go and Do!”