March 24, 2024
Dressed and Ready
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
"With great power comes great responsibility" – Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) to Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), in Spider-man (2002).
"He believed that if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things! That's what's at stake here. Not choice. Responsibility." – Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) to Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).
"When you can do the things I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen... they happen because of you." - Peter Parker (Tom Holland) to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), in Captain America: Civil War (2016).
"With great power, there must also come great responsibility." – Aunt May (Marissa Tomei) to Spider-Man (Tom Holland) in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
Luke 12:48b NIV
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” - Jesus
Luke 12:35-36 NIV
"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him."
“Be dressed and ready” = “gird up your loins” (KJV)
Luke 12:37 NIV
”It will be good (blessed!) for those servants (doulos) whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself (gird his loins) to serve (diakoneo), will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”
Doulos = bond-slave/servant; refers to a believer who willingly lives under Christ’s authority as His devoted follower.
Diakonos = minister or servant; to raise up dust by moving in a hurry to care for the needs of others.
The Law of the bigger “yes”: saying yes to what matters for Eternity by sacrificing something else important today.
Luke 12:38 NIV
“It will be good (blessed!) for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.”
Luke 12:39-40 NIV
“But understand 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. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Luke 12:41 NIV
Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
Luke 12:42 NIV
The Lord answered, “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?” - Luke 12:42 NIV
Wise manager (oikonomos) = a person who often functioned as the "steward" of a household, and was generally a freedman – i.e. a slave released from forced, legal servitude.
Luke 12:43-44 NIV
“It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”
Luke 12:45 NIV
“But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.”
Luke 12:46 NIV
“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. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”
“…here the word is more fitly translated ‘cut up by scourging, scourge severely’” – Thayer’s Greek Lexicon
Luke 12:47 NIV
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.”
Luke 12:48 NIV
“But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
Jesus demands obedience while giving us grace for when we fail.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 NIV
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.