Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord's Coming - 4

Message Title: Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord's Coming by Being a Faithful and Purdent Slave

on one hand, in the aspect of life, we are virgins; on the other hand, in the aspect of service, we are slaves. as the virgins, we are waiting for the return of Christ our Bridegroom; as the slaves, we need to use the talents our Lord has given us in the faithful way.  

I. "Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whome the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Truly I say to you that he will set him over all his possessions"

Matthew 24:45 Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time?

this verse shows us the matter of God's economy. the household is the household of God, composed of all the believers. "give them food" refers to the dispensing of God. God's economy in faith is His household economy, His household administration, which is to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church, the Body of Christ. God desires to have a household for Himself, in which there are many members for His expression. because this is such a huge household, God needs some faithful and prudent slaves, in the matter of taking care of the many household members, especially making sure no member will be starving or sick. the faithful and prudent slave is a steward in God's house, a household administration, dispensing Christ as "food" to His believers. we should deisre to be such faithful and prudent slaves, to give food to the household members at the proper time. 

"Give them food" refers to ministering the word of God and Christ as the life supply to the believers in the church; Christ as the life-giving Spirit is our food, embodied and realized in the word of life. in order to enjoy the Lord as our spiritual food so that we can feed others, we need to receive His word by means of all prayer and by musing on His word, speaking His word aloud with much consideration. 

II. "But if that evil slave says in his heart, My master delays, and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth"

our Master is coming back, and He wants us to prepare ourselves to be ready, so there will not be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth for us. therefore, we should be those who love His appearing, who are eagerly awaiting the coming of the Lord, who give food at the proper time. we should not think in our heart that the Master delays, or eat and drink with the drunken. 

our attitude towards the coming of the Master depends on whether we are getting ourselves ready. for example, whether a student is expecting the coming of the final exam, depends on whether he is prepared for the exam. A good student who is dilligent in reviewing and preparing for the exam, surely expects the time to sit the exam. but for the student who does not study hard, he will prefer the delay of the coming exam. if we are like the good student, faithful and diligent in preparing ourselves day by day, we will spontaneously expect the Lord's coming. it is not enough to just know about the doctrine or the prophecy that the Lord is coming. but we should live with a postive and active attitude toward the coming of the Lord. while we still live a normal daily life, fulfilling the human duty, our heart and our eyes are fixed on the Lord. 

"to beat our fellow slaves" is to mistreat fellow believers, which include:

1. judge and condemn fellow believers. it is very easy for us to judge and condemn others. we should be reminded that, instead of judging and condemning, we should be kind to one anther, tenderhearted. 

2. revile or criticize our brothers, rather, we should consider them more excellent than us.

3. lord it over fellow believers, such as making dicisions for them. 

the faithful and prudent slave will be rewarded with the authority to rule in the manifestation of the kingdom, whereas the evil slave will be cut off from the glorious Christ, from the glory of His kingdom, and from His glorious presence in His kingdom.