Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager? (Luke 12:41-48)

In Luke 12:42 Jesus asked, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?" In Luke 12:35-40 Jesus preached about being ready for his return. We could almost think that what the guys are doing in Acts 1:9-11, is the best example of doing what Christ wanted: standing there, waiting, staring off into heaven. But then Jesus preached Luke 12:41 to 48 to prevent us from thinking this. Being ready for Christ’s return means serving. If we want to know who then is the faithful and wise steward we should look at our lives. https://youtu.be/K7gvDjZf8EU Table of ContentsSermon Lessons for Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager?Family Worship Guide for Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager?Sermon Notes for Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager?Lesson one: prepare for Christ’s return by serving.Lesson two: our lives reveal if we don’t expect Christ’s return.Lesson three: unfaithfulness is a strong evidence of being unsaved.Lesson four: the punishment will match the offense.Lesson five: ignorance is no excuse. Sermon Lessons for Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager? Lesson 1: Prepare for Christ’s return ____ ______________ (Luke 12:42-44 cf. Acts 1:6-11, Matthew 25:20-21, Luke 19:16-19). Lesson 2: ______ __________ reveal if we don’t expect Christ’s return (Luke 12:45, 1 John 3:2). Lesson 3: Unfaithfulness is a ____________ ________________ of being unsaved (Luke 12:46, Matthew 25:26, 30). Lesson 4: The ____________________ will __________ the offense (Luke 12:47-48, Matthew 10:15, 11:20-24). Lesson 5: Ignorance is ____ ____________ (James 4:17, Luke 12:48). Family Worship Guide for Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager? Directions: Read the verses at the end of the lessons to answer the following questions: Day 1: Why does it seem like Jesus didn’t directly answer people’s questions at times? What does it look like to prepare for Christ’s return? What are some ways you are preparing for Christ’s return? What are some ways you could better prepare for Christ’s return? How does the world typically reward faithfulness? How does the Lord seem to reward faithfulness? Day 2: Why do people’s lives tend to deteriorate spiritually when they don’t look forward to Christ’s return? What positive changes are typically shown in people’s lives when they look forward to Christ’s return? What is the relationship between faithfulness and salvation? Day 3: Describe the two categories for unbelievers. Looking back at the verses what are the different punishments you see? Why would the punishment be worse for some cities than it will be for Sodom and Gomorrah? Is ignorance an excuse? Why or why not? Sermon Notes for Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager? The title of this morning’s sermon is, “Who Then Is the Faithful and Wise Manager?” We are continuing our verse-by-verse study through Luke’s gospel. Go ahead and turn to chapter 12. We will cover verses 41 through 48. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word. I’d like to back up to verse 35 because this morning’s verses flow from last week’s verses… Luke 12:35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 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. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 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. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” This is as far as we got last week. Here are the new verses for this morning… Luke 12:41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 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, 46 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. 47 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. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. You may be seated. Let’s pray. Look with me at verse 41…                                                                  Luke 12:41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?”  Peter wants to know if Luke 12:35-40 were for everyone or just the 12 disciples. For the last few years I have been working with my children on answering the question that they are asked. For example, if I say, “Did you clean your room?” This is a yes or no question: If they cleaned their room they will quickly say, “Yes.” If they didn’t clean their room, I usually get a very long response that doesn’t really answer my question. I tell my children how important it is to answer the question that is asked, but it seems like Jesus was terrible at this…unless you consider he had the ability – which we do not – to look past the question to the person’s heart. He saw what they really needed to hear, and so that’s what he would tell them. You see this throughout the Gospels when it looks like Jesus isn’t answering what is asked. Verse 42 is another example. Peter asked if the parable is for the disciples or everyone and look what Jesus says… Luke 12:42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?  Jesus said it is important for everyone to be a faithful and wise steward, or manager, and he described what they do…and this brings us to lesson one… Lesson one: prepare for Christ’s return by serving. Let me illustrate what Jesus wanted to prevent by showing you an account at the beginning of Acts. Go ahead and mark your spot in Luke 12 and turn to the right to Acts 1. Listen to these verses about Jesus’s ascension… Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They were so convinced that Jesus was going to physically establish his kingdom on the earth during his first coming that right up to his ascension they were still expecting him to do it! Acts 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. This is pretty similar to what we talked about last week: nobody knows the day or the hour. Look at verse 9… Acts 1:9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, More than likely these were angels. Acts 1:11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Jesus ascends and the disciples just stood there staring into heaven, waiting for him to return. Now go ahead and turn back to Luke 12 and I’ll explain the connection. In Luke 12:35-40 Jesus preached about being ready for his return. We could almost think that what those guys are doing in Acts 1 is the best example of doing what Christ wanted. They just stood there, staring into heaven, waiting. And if we want to be ready for Jesus’s return, we should do the same thing. But then Jesus preached verses 41 to 48 to prevent us from thinking this. Briefly look back at verse 42. Jesus said… “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?” In other words, being ready for Christ’s return doesn’t mean staring off into heaven. It means serving. So if we want to know if we are ready for Christ’s return, all we need to do is look at whether we are serving him while he is gone. In particular, it seems to look like serving others… The steward would be the person who had the care over the master’s home in his absence. The master would have lots of possessions, and the most valuable would be the other servants. The faithful manager is going to feed them at the proper time. The lesson for us is, if we want to be ready for Christ’s return, is we should be busy serving others. Or another way to say it is, we prepare for Christ’s return by serving others while he’s away. It seems like the way we serve others, especially those who are part of God’s household, is a good reflection of our faithfulness as stewards. Then he follows this up by describing what’s in store for faithful versus unfaithful servants. Look what he says about the faithful servant in verse 43… Luke 12:43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.  It will be a happy day for the servant who is doing what his master wants when the master returns.