I want you to open your Bible with me, in Matthew, Chapter 24, Verse 45 through to Verse 51. What I want to do is ask the question: who then is a wise - or a faithful and a wise servant? So let's read in Verse 45, and Jesus is speaking: Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food or meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master delays his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of the servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him, at an hour he's not aware of, will cut him two, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So before we try to look in and see what that might mean, and how it might apply, we need to see what the whole context of it is. Jesus has been asked some questions. They're very important questions. The disciples asked Him tell us about the future of Jerusalem, what's going to happen, when are these things going to happen; and they said: tell us when you will come. We want to know about your coming, and we want to know about the end of the age. For a believer, our hope is not the things that happen in our life now. Our hope is set in eternity. Your life is very small compared to eternity. Your life is an apprenticeship for eternity, so whatever assignment you have in life now is small compared to the assignment you have in eternity.
So God always wants us to live with eternity in mind; and so Jesus begins to answer, and He talks about some of the signs of the end times. I don't want to go into that today - and He talks a little bit about the nation of Israel. Then He begins to talk and share three parables, and all the parables are connected to one another; and He shares also one other story, or event, that happens. So the first He talks about, is the parable of the wise servant. Then the second one He talks about, is the parable of the wise virgins; then the third parable He goes to is on the faithful servant; and finally He talks about the nations being judged.
Now all of them have this in common, very simple: they all span history from Jesus' first coming to a second coming, so they're prophetic. Not one of them has been fulfilled in its entirety yet. We are living in the middle part of the parables. That's the first thing to see. They have application for today, and I want to show you what that is.
Second thing to see, is that each of the parables brings out something different. This parable we're going to talk about, is about how you relate to the house of God. It's a very important one - your attitude to God's people. It's about whether we will love God's people or not. The second parable is about whether we'll love the Lord or not. It's about intimacy with the Lord. The oil with the virgins was about intimacy, the oil speaks of the anointing, or flow of the Holy Spirit, gained by intimacy with the Lord. The third parable is about the servants in the talents, and it's about productive serving, that you make your life count; and then finally the fourth one involves the separation of the nations, and it's essentially about practical love. Did you love people? Did you express it in a practical way? Did you get involved in social justice issues? Did you engage with the needs in the community, and in the world?
Now here's an interesting thing about it, is that all of them are evaluated. In other words, in all four, Jesus comes and evaluates people. You have to understand how we live our life is really important to Jesus. The kind of life you live is important to Him, and we have to understand that every one of us, He will evaluate our life. Now if you're not a Christian, then you're on a different playing field altogether, in that God's desire for you is to come to know Him as your saviour, to receive His grace and love into your life, to acknowledge what He's done for you, and to begin a new life with Him.