March 19, Third Sunday in Lent

Lesson: Matthew 24.45-51

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INTRODUCTION:

Time Off

Two factory workers were talking. "I know how to get some time off from work." said the man.

"How do you think you will do that?" said the other one. He proceeded to show her...by climbing up to the rafters, and hanging upside down.

The boss walked in, saw the worker hanging from the ceiling, and asked him what on earth he was doing? "I'm a light bulb" answered the guy.

"I think you need some time off," said the boss. So, the man jumped down and walked out of the factory. The second worker began walking out too. The boss asked her where did she think she was going?

"Home. I can't work in the dark."

You may have heard this one, but it is good for a chuckle

1. You cannot work in the dark.

2. We seek to walk in the light.

3. We desire to go where the light leads us.

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MAIN BODY:

1. Where shall we begin

1. Shall we begin with the characteristics of the wicked slave?

2. There is a circular argument that posits, "you must know evil to know good."

1. The appeal is to the "Tree of the knowledge of good and evil" that existed in the Garden of Eden.

2. Adam and eve were not to eat of its fruit.

3. Just because they did does not necessarily prove that you must know evil to know good.

3. Why concentrate on the negative.

2. So, lets concentrate on the positive and the negative will become clear.

1. Who is a good slave.

1. Perhaps we ought not use the word slave.

2. In a few hours Jesus will offer a change in status for the disciples and for their disciples.

John 15:12-17 (NRSVA): ¹²"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants^£ any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

3. Then we probably ought not to use the word,"good."

1. In response to the question of a rich, young man Jesus said:

Mark 10:17-18 (NRSVA): ¹⁷As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" ¹⁸Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

2. If no one is good but God alone, then the word good is out.

2. So what words will we use to describe the Christian.

1. We could describe the devout Christian

1. This invokes all kinds of mental images.

2. The pious Christian.

3. The devout is primarily seen as negative.

2. Lets try sincere.

1. Isn't every one sincere.

2. Each person in their own way is sincere.

3. Again this has some negative connotations.

3. We could retreat to practicing, the practicing Christian

1. We find ourselves in the same place as we did with the other attempts at a description.

2. So what will we use.

3. Jesus provides us with the answer that is found in the lesson for today.

1. Who then is the faithful and wise Christian?

2. What are the characteristic of the faithful and wise?

3. This is an area that we can, from this lesson, explore with constructive and positive results.

4. But then we need to understand the end before we can get the beginning.

1. The wicked person will be cut in pieces.

1. To some, this is a description of a person being cut off from the blessings of relationship with Jesus.

2. To some this is to be cast out into outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

2. In Daniel 3.29 it speaks of being torn limb from limb.

3. God is not going to tear anyone limb from limb.

1. This is a form of punishment that was familiar to the people of Jesus day.

2. It was a form that they understood.

4. This image was used to underscore the gravity of failure.

5. It is a format that we can easily understand.

6. We understand the finality of the penalty phase that allows us to avoid being "cut in pieces."

5. Before we can exposit the characteristics of the faithful and wise there is one other bit of information that needs to be highlighted.

1. In Luke 12:35-48 (NRSVA) Peter responds to a teaching of Jesus with a question.

2. Jesus teaches vv 35-38: ³⁵"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

3. Peter asks on v 41:

⁴¹Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?"

4. Jesus responds with essentially that same teaching that we find in Matthew 24.

⁴²And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? ⁴³Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. ⁴⁴Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵But if that slave says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. ⁴⁷That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. ⁴⁸But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.

1. Jesus does not directly answer Peter's question.

2. It must be concluded that the teaching is for all slaves, friends, Christians.

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3. So, now what are the characteristics of the faithful and wise Christian?

1. The faithful and wise Christian does not play God.

1. Playing God is attempting to take on the prerogatives of God.

1. Making decisions for someone else who is completely capable of making their won decisions.

2. Weighing in on what is right and wrong for another person when that person is capable of deciding for him/her self.

3. The faithful and wise Christian knows that God is God alone.

4. What we would like to have happen may not be what happens.

2. The faithful land wise Christian recognizes that he/she is only one among equals.

1. One member is not the master and the rest slaves.

1. Although this happens from time to time, that is until there is a revolt.

2. Remember that in human relationships the one who is up today, will probably be down tomorrow.

2. We are to be servants to one another.

3. The faithful and wise Christian if faithful in fulfilling his/her accepted obligations.

1. That is, you choose what you will do and not do.

2. You evaluate your talents or skills and employ them to the greater good of a congregation, or the purposes of God.

3. We will not impose the burdens of responsibility on another.

4. We will not criticize another for what we believe is their failure to accept the responsibility, we believe they ought to assume.

4. The faithful and wise Christian is engages in the continual process of gaining wisdom.

1. What is wisdom?

1. Listen to the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 (NRSVA):

²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

2. Christ is not only the power of God but also the wisdom of God.

2. If you need wisdom James, in James 1:5-7 (NRSVA) provides an understanding of the source:

⁵If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. ⁶But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; ^{7, 8}for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

5. The wise and faithful Christian is generous.

1. The wise and faithful seeks to meet the needs of the religious community, and more.

2. This is done in love.

3. Sometimes love requires that one say no, as well as yes.

6. So do we have an understanding of what it means to be a faithful and wise Christian?

4. Now what do we do?

1. We seek to activate the wisdom in practical activities that are beneficial not only to one's self, but to the church and the community.

2. There are great blessings for doing this.

⁴⁶Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. ⁴⁷Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.

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CONCLUSION

1. Edith Kathleen Robinson lived from March 20, 1920 - October 16, 1991 ⁽¹⁾

1. Granddaughter writes about her mother and grandmother:

My mother was going through some of my grandmother's things and found a piece of paper that my grandmother had typed on. We're not sure when she typed it, but it was a good while ago. The contents were very powerful words. It really touched my mother to have found this, a part of her mother that she can keep close to her heart. I'm sending this in hopes that maybe others who read it will be touched by the words written so long ago.

2. This is what Edith Kathleen Robinson wrote:

"The word 'Christian' means more to me than just a word. It means love, and that word isn't meant to be used loosely. You can tell someone you love them every time you see them, but words without action are wasted. And you can go to church every time the doors open, and give all the money that you have. That's just part of being a Christian. You have to love your brothers and sisters. Sometimes it calls for giving and doing of yourself until it hurts, but that's the rewarding part for you. Because if you are a true Christian it makes you happy. A lot of people set great store by how much money and what fine earthly things that other people have. What you have doesn't prove a thing; it's what lives in your heart. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you feel the Spirit of the Lord as I do, you also feel love and concern for your fellow man."

3. Who is a faithful and wise Christian?

4. Amen!

1. Retrieved from: Mikey's Funnies [funnies-owner@lists.MikeysFunnies.com]

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