In the last three years, prepping, as it’s called, has become big. Prepping is a term for preparing for SHTF situations. What’s SHTF situations? Well SHTF stands for, stuff (this is the sanitized word) hits the fan. It’s a hurricane that destroys a costal town. It’s a tornado dropping down. It’s a flood, it’s an earthquake, it’s a governmental collapse, or a major supply chain interruption. It’s a zombie outbreak. It’s whatever happens when you can no longer count on normal life being normal, and you have to survive on your own.
For these situations, there are essential items they say everyone needs.1) Personal Defense Items. 2) First Aid Kit. 3) Protective Gear and Clothing. 4) Shelter. 5) Water. 6) Food. 7) A Waterproof, Heavy-duty Backpack. 8) Back-up Power, Flashlights, Headlights, Batteries. 9) Emergency Communication. 10) Navigation tools.
These are just a general tool kit of what to have for these situations. Every region is different, every household is different. But the idea is to be prepared for what you can think of and what you can’t. And in our day an age we have resources to make sure we can live comfortably for months. With food storage that can last you years, or solar panels that can give you electricity. God has blessed us greatly with the ability to prepare for the unknown.
And it’s this idea of preparation that brings us back to our Matthew series, where we’ll be picking it up in chapter 24, verse 36. And as we open to Matthew 24:36, let’s look at where we are so far in our study.
In this final section of Matthew, we’ve been looking at what our response as disciples to Jesus’ authority should be. The rightful response is that we are to be disciples who are satisfied with what God gives us, who seek his will over our own, who act on his will, and who do not try to confine him. If we rest in Jesus’ authority, then we will find that we are satisfied, that we are in his will, that doing his will comes more frequently, and we get to see his amazing power at work.
Yet, if we don’t submit to Jesus’ authority, there are woes, or consequences to that. We will find limited satisfaction in this world a part from God, sin is always fun for a time. But we will never be fully satisfied when we are outside of God’s will or trying to make him do what we want.
This is really important because the timetable of Jesus’ return is always inching closer. Jesus gave us a lot of signs by which we can see that his return is coming closer. And in those signs gave us a job, share the Gospel. We are to be witnesses of God’s great work through Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are to be disciples transformed by the Holy Spirit, living our lives, both good and bad, in front of the world; willing to take a stand for Christ, especially as our world grows darker.
And it’s with that in mind that we return to Matthew 24, picking it back up in verse 36. Let’s read together.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Let’s pause right here and take a look at Jesus’ words. The question in verse 45 is the focal point of Jesus’ second part of his teaching on his return. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant…,” is what this thought hangs on.
Jesus begins this second of three thoughts on his return, by referencing the unknown hour of his return. No one knows the hour, except, we are told our Father in heaven. So any predictions that you hear, throw them out. If the exact time was able to be extrapolated from the Scriptures, then Jesus would have pointed us in that direction. Three times in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus asked his opponents, “Haven’t you read…(Matthew 12:3, 5; 19:4)” Jesus would point back to to the Scriptures to justify his own arrival to the people. Even here, Jesus points to the Scriptures to give a parallel to his second coming. Yet, he does not point to the Scriptures to give us an exact time frame.
But he gives us the signs that we talked about last week, and now he gives us the state of the world. At his second coming, the world will be like it was in the days of Noah. Noah was building a giant ark in front of the people, yet none turned to God to be saved. Noah was counted as righteous because of his faithfulness to God’s call of building the ark. But we’re told that the reason God started the project was because, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5).”
We can see, through the signs Jesus gave us in the previous thought, that at his return, people will be inclined to nothing but evil once again. That the ark of salvation, Jesus himself, will be proclaimed, yet people will continue to think that the day is not coming. Yet Jesus’ return will be like the floodwaters of Noah, swift and unexpected for those who were never wanting to pay attention. The thief is like the flood waters, quick, and behind both, they leave a trail of devastation.
Then Jesus asks the question, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant?” Who will be the one doing what God has called them to when the Master comes? That is the question that Jesus gives two parables to answer. Let’s read these two parables in chapter 25.
25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The two parables are the parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Talents.
The first of these parables calls us to be watchful and prepared disciples. No one knows the hour, so we should be prepared at every moment. The ten virgins are divided into two groups: those who were watching, and were prepared, so they were called wise; and those that were watching but were unprepared and they were called foolish. The foolish virgins who have the lamps, who are out there with the wise ones, are those that are not in it for the long haul.
They might be a person that accepts Jesus as more of a spiritual concept, rather than a physical presence. There are groups gaining ground today in the Church that believe that Jesus’ predictions of his second coming have already come true, and that his reign is a spiritual one, not a physical one. They are not truly watching for Jesus’ return and so are not truly prepared.
Or they might be someone that says they have accepted Jesus as their Savior, but they continue in sin. They are not becoming holy as God is holy. They continue to allow anger to rule their emotions. They continue to doubt the goodness of God. They continue to question the Scriptures, instead of letting the Scriptures transform them. Or they might think that they need to do good works alone, without being inwardly changed by the Holy Spirit.
The foolish virgins are those that say their waiting for Jesus’ return, but have not submitted to God, going about his work, and waiting on his timeframe and not their own.
The second of the parables parallels the first, but goes a step beyond. The three servants who are given money, are not simply entrusted with it for their own benefit. They are given the money as a test to see what kind of servants they are. The first two take what is given to them, and multiply it. And at the return of their master, they are given even more, because they took what was given to them and used it. These first two servants are like the wise virgins, not only were they aware at their masters return, and so were ready, they were at work to make their master’s money grow. The third servant is like the foolish virgins. He knew the master would return someday, but instead of figuring out a way to utilize what he was given, he stored it away and gained nothing for his master. The problem with the servant wasn’t just that he didn’t grow the money, but that he was in defiance of the master, because he didn’t understand who his master was, and so didn’t understand the purpose of the money in the first place.
The third servant had a skewed view of his master. He thought of his master as cruel, and deceitful; taking what wasn’t his. Yet it was the master who gave out his gold, it was the master that rejoiced at the other two servants work, and it was the master who gave them more and invited them into his happiness. There are so many people that hold grudges against God because they have a skewed view of him, and at the second coming of Jesus they will be just like this servant accusing God of being evil, when it is their own deeds and thoughts that were evil.
These two parables, taken with Jesus words prior to them, all hang on the question, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant?” And the answer is threefold; the one who knows the master is coming, is watchful for the masters return, and who is doing the work of the master.
This is what is means to be living under Jesus’ authority. If we are seeking God’s will, acting on his will, not confining him to a box, not only will we be satisfied in him, but we will be wise servants prepared for his return.
That’s because we take his words seriously. Christians are those who read and listen to Jesus’ words. They don’t change his words to suit their own thoughts. They read and trust it.
And because they trust Jesus’ words, they prepare. We are called to be a holy people, set apart from the world. That means that we seek to have the Holy Spirit live in our lives, pushing out the sinful desires and habits that we have acquired on our own. That means we stand for biblical truth in a world that seeks to rebel against God and his created order.
And since we know he’s coming and we’re preparing for his coming, we are at work not just in our own lives, but seeking others to know Jesus, that they too would be ready for his return. We are given a job to do, to love God and love people. Loving God means we trust his word and are moved by the Holy Spirt to be transformed into the image of Jesus. To love people means to share with them the life changing Gospel message that we are all sinners who have fallen away from God and we cannot get back to him on our own. We’re sinners because we seek our own will outside of the will of God. But God in his great love for us, descends to earth, taking on human flesh, living the perfect life we were created to live, but could not because of rebellion in sin. Jesus then dies on the cross, taking what should be our punishment for our rebellion and sin. He does this eagerly, speaking words of forgiveness even while experiencing the pain of the cross. He is raised from the dead to prove that his sacrifice for us was acceptable. And now, anyone who trusts in Jesus’ work, gains salvation, is empowered by the Holy Spirit to be transformed into who God intended them to be: people in right standing with him, prepared for his return.
And so my challenge for you this week is simple, get prepared. Ask yourself these three questions: First, do I trust Jesus’ words that he will be returning? If not, why don’t you trust them? Second, are you prepared for Jesus’ return? Are you being transformed by God’s word and by the Holy Spirit’s work? If not, what is holding you back? Finally, are you doing the work of the Gospel? Sharing it with your actions and your words to the people around you, that they may be prepared for Jesus’ return as well.
God is not leaving us in the dark about his intentions and actions in this world. He is calling his people to be ready and active in his work. Let us be people that are known as looking forward to our Master’s return, and loving those around us until that day. Amen.
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