Awake? Ready?

Mountainview Family, 

I’m humbled when I remember that the work God began to do in the world through Jesus continues now through you and me. This happens by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. 

As I’ve been reading through the 89 chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I’ve recently noticed something that I hadn’t paid attention to before. 

In Luke 12, Jesus challenged His disciples to think about their lives, as they were at that moment, then consider them from the perspective of the end of their lives. It was almost as if Jesus was repeating a concept from Psalms and Proverbs. He wanted the disciples to realize that thinking about the future would help them live their best lives possible in the present. Look at these verses. Especially take note of what I have underlined. 

Blessed 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. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third,

and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 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. 

You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Luke 12:37-40 ESV

When Jesus left earth, He commanded His followers to fulfill the Great Commission. Before He ascended into heaven, just a few days before Pentecost, He said, “Be my witnesses here, there and everywhere.” (Tom’s version) But today, there are still over 7000 ethnic and language groups in the world who have never heard about Jesus. Nearly 70% of the Portland Metropolitan area population identifies as having no religious affiliation whatsoever. In Gresham over 70,000 people of our 110,000 population identify as having no religious affiliation. 

The task Jesus left the disciples and us is not finished. Are we awake? Are we ready? 

Are we living in a way that only makes sense if Jesus is coming back soon? 

Look at what the servant said and did…

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. 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.

Luke 12:45-47 ESV

The servants who had problems were the ones who didn’t think the Master would return. They not only forgot to be awake and ready, they totally forgot their assignment, which was to do the Master’s will! We must not let ourselves be like those servants. When we keep in mind the fact that the Master (Jesus) will actually return (and maybe soon), then we will look at our lives, our priorities, our sacrifices, our desires and wants completely differently.

This is in the Bible, so we must pay attention... This is what happened to the servants who forgot the Master’s return. They weren’t terribly evil people. They were people who got distracted and enamored with other things and didn’t fulfill their objectives. They were punished. 

I’m not trying to scare anyone. I’m asking myself these questions: 

-What am I doing with my life? 

-Am I awake and ready? 

-Does the way I’m living my life make sense if Jesus is going to return? 

-What other gods are distracting me…especially what I can’t take with me when He returns?

Maybe you can ask yourself these questions, too. 

Grace & Peace, 

Pastor Tom