Live Ready

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Is the dividing line of judgment, the dividing line of judgment, is it between those who are Christians and those who aren't? Or are some Christians also going to be caught unprepared and swept away in judgment? In other words, does just becoming a Christian, so to speak, make you prepared? Or is Jesus talking about something more? Welcome to Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor, author, and theologian, J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. As we continue our new teaching series called In Step that takes us through the book of Luke, Pastor J.D. teaches what it means to live ready for Jesus's return. Are we awake to the task that Jesus left for his church? Or are we asleep at the wheel? Are we confident that Jesus will return soon? Or do we live without urgency? As followers of Christ, we should live in such a way that only makes sense if we believe that Jesus could be back at any moment.

What does that look like? Well, let's join Pastor J.D. as he shares today's message titled Live Ready. One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time, a true classic, does not come on the Hallmark Channel. It is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the one with George C. Scott, not Mickey Mouse, by the way, although that one is good also. But the gist of the movie is that Ebenezer Scrooge is a greedy, heartless man. He is a workaholic.

He is a miser. He scrimps on paying his workers, and he looks down on the needy. He despises Christmas because he thinks of Christmas as a sentimental holiday for freeloaders. All of that changes one night when he gets visited by three ghosts, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. All of them have an impact on him, but it is his vision of the future that transforms him with that one vision. He gets a glimpse of the impact of his selfishness.

He hears how people regarded him. His grave is abandoned, and the only emotional response that comes from his death is a poor couple who are actually elated that he is gone. I know some of you are sitting there like, well, now you just totally spoiled the whole movie for me. Listen, the story has been out for 180 years, okay? So don't tell me like, oh, I was going to go home and read it for the first time tonight. That is not my fault.

I take no responsibility for that. But the movie illustrates the power of pressing fast forward in your life occasionally so that you can see things from the vantage point of the future. Things in the present look different from the perspective of the future.

We know this, don't we? That shouldn't be anything brand new. Ever seen a really suspenseful movie for the second time? Your experience watching the movie the second time is so much different than the first because you know what's going to happen. Or how many of you saw the really gripping documentary Free Solo?

Free Solo about a man who scales mountains with no ropes or harnesses. I remember being so nervous as he scaled one of those mountains that I actually paused the documentary, jumped online to see if he was still alive, and then returned to watch the movie in a much calmer state. Pressing fast forward was helpful. It helped me reinterpret what I was seeing in the present. Well, see, I share that because in Luke chapter 12, Jesus tells his disciples to press fast forward for a moment and think about their present lives from the vantage point of the end. So if you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do, take them out, open them up, turn them on, whatever. We're going to jump into Luke 12 and pick up where we left off last weekend.

All right, write this down as you're doing that. It is only by thinking clearly about the future that you will live wisely in the present. It is only by thinking clearly about the future that you will live wisely in the present. That's probably why Jesus talked about the future so much. Did you know? Did you know?

Bet you didn't. Did you know the second coming of Christ is the most talked about doctrine in the Bible? I know that is a big, huge statement, but it is true, just by the numbers. Of the 260 chapters we have in our New Testament, there are 318 references to the second coming of Christ. That means that roughly one out of every dozen verses is about the second coming of Christ. For every one prophecy we have in the Bible concerning the first coming of Christ, there are eight that talk about his second one. We're getting ready to celebrate an entire holiday that is devoted to his first coming, but we barely even mention the second one. Furthermore, New Testament writers use the second coming to motivate obedience to almost every single moral command found in the New Testament. In other words, they understood that you would gain the strength to obey the commands by reflecting on how close eternity is and how imminent Jesus's return is. Now, the church I grew up in when I was a boy was a little, I think I can say it, obsessed with the second coming. We talked about it all of the time. We had our rapture board games and our rapture bumper stickers on our car. In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned. And we made rapture jokes like there was no tomorrow.

Our annual prophecy conferences were the best attended events of the year. And for special Sunday night services, we would watch the Billy Graham movies about the tribulation. On our Sunday school walls, we would have posters of timelines with dates and pictures of dragons that were matched with names of contemporary politicians. And you think that I'm making this up, but I assure you, I am not. My pastor would often end our services by saying, Maranatha, Maranatha, which is the Hebrew for the Lord is coming. And then he would say, and brothers, sisters, it might be today. And I believed it.

I believed it. As a kid, I lived in a perpetual state of anxiety about Jesus coming back and me not being ready. So if for any reason at all, I called out to my parents and they did not respond, I would run through the house in a panic, just positive.

I would find my mom's clothes somewhere falling neatly into a pile on the floor as she had ascended to be with Jesus and I'd been left behind. Now we might've been a little on the overboard side, but I will say this. My church had something that I think we lack in ours. And I would say might even be lacking in this entire generation of Christians. And that is the earnest expectation of Jesus' return. It could be today. It could be today. Do you think that?

Have you even thought that yet today? Listen to how Jesus instructs his disciples in Luke 12, verse 35 is where we'll begin. Stay dressed for action. By the way, this is the first of four images that Jesus is going to communicate a posture of readiness. If you are taking notes, write this down.

Stay dressed for action. At least that's what it is in English. Unfortunately, our English translations do not translate the Greek literally here because what Jesus says is so much more colorful in Greek. The Greek reads literally, keep your loins girded. In those days, men wore robes, which of course were comfortable and stylish and breezy, but not at all ideal if you were going to work or run or fight.

So on those occasions, men would put on these belts that would tighten things up down there, so to speak, so that they were ready for action. And Jesus said, let that be a metaphor for how you live. Do not live in a posture of leisure.

You need to live in fight mode. Or think of it like this, kids. How many kids we got in the house?

Whatever came at you, raise your hand. All right, kids. It's sort of like that game musical chairs. Some of you don't remember that because I don't think we play it post-COVID because one of many violent games that we've had to put behind us now that COVID has started. But the basic gist of musical chairs was this, right? You get a group of kids or group of people and you set out some chairs and there's always one less chair than there are people.

And then you play some music. When the music stops, you got to scramble for a chair and it always ends up in some violent shoving match between a couple of people, right? The point is if you're going to win this game, you got to walk around these chairs in a posture of readiness. And if you're in a posture of leisure, then you're going to be left out. Musical chairs is based on the idea that the music is going to stop.

That is certain, but you don't know when it's going to stop. And because of that, you've got to walk around in a posture of readiness. That's basically what Jesus means by keep your loins girded. Here's the second image continuing on in verse 35. Verse 35, keep your lamps burning. Keep your lamps burning 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, right?

No delay. 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.

If he comes in the second watch or in the third watch and finds them awake, blessed are those servants. In those days, when a rich man went to a wedding, none of the servants knew exactly how long he would be gone. And that's because in those days, you never knew how long a wedding was going to last. People like coming to the wedding might be delayed and getting there, so they get there a day or two late. Anyway, the event could last one day or it could last several days.

You would find out when you got there. And of course, because they didn't have cell phones back then, they couldn't text or call their servants. These masters couldn't do that when they were on their way back home. So the servants just had to keep the house ready all the time because the master doesn't want to return home to a dark, cold house with all the servants asleep in their pajamas. You should also, he says, live like that, Jesus says. Verse 2, and keep your lamps burning. Excuse me, number 2, keep your lamps burning. Verse 35, ready for me to return at any hour.

So that's your second image, which leads us to the third image. Verse 39, but know this, that if the master of the house had known one hour the thief was coming, well, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Number 3, right, like a posh, like you're watching out for a thief. Verse 39, like you're watching out for a thief. Thieves, as a general rule, do not schedule their break-ins. You're never going to get a notification on your phone from some app that says your thief is on the way, right?

Their goal is to surprise you. So if you know that a thief might be coming sometime in the night, you better stay up all night to be ready for him. Same thing is true with me, Jesus says. The point here, of course, is not that Jesus is some sinister, ruinous villain, just that he might come when you're not expecting him, and if you are not ready for him when he returns, then you will be ruined.

It will be like having a thief come and destroy your house. Now, verse 41, Peter asks an absolutely fantastic question. Lord, Peter asked, are you telling this parable to us, or are you telling it to other people? In other words, Peter wants to know if Jesus is directing this warning only to outsiders, or if there's also a warning in this for the disciples. That's a very important question, because it's one of Jesus's big themes in the book of Luke. Listen, is the dividing line of judgment, the dividing line of judgment, is it between those who are Christians and those who aren't? Or are some Christians also going to be caught unprepared and swept away in judgment?

In other words, does just becoming a Christian, so to speak, make you prepared? Or is Jesus talking about something more? Is this a warning that he would direct toward people who are active in the church? And you will notice in the next few verses that Jesus doesn't actually answer Peter. Instead, he tells Peter another story to help him and the other disciples self-diagnose whether they are living ready, which is Jesus's answer. He is saying, Peter, this most definitely applies to you, because a lot of my so-called followers are going to be caught unprepared, and they're going to face judgment because of that. Again, y'all, this is a consistent theme in the book of Luke. We've seen it now two weeks in a row.

This is the third week. Not everybody who calls themselves a follower of Jesus actually is. Followers of Jesus are only those who live ready. And a lot of church-going people are going to find themselves coming up short on judgment day. So just because you call yourself a Christian and just because you're active in church doesn't actually mean that you are.

Watch this. Verse 42. Verse 42. And the Lord said, 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? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set that servant over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, well, my master is delayed in coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him at an hour that he does not know, and he will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, that servant will receive a severe beating. Here is your fourth image as stewards who do not want to be caught idle.

Like stewards who don't want to be caught idle. Because these servants forgot their boss was coming back, they started to commandeer their master's stuff for personal use. So they started to throw parties for their friends on his dime. They started to drink all of his really good wine. They started to wear his clothes. They even forced the other servants to tend to their needs, went in and took over his office and put their feet up on his desk.

So when the master comes back, he's going to say, what are you doing? These things aren't yours. I didn't give these things to you for your personal use.

I entrusted them to you for you to continue on with my purposes. In fact, the word that Jesus uses in verse 42 for the servant is the word oikonomos, which literally translates as manager or steward, right? It literally means steward. A steward is not just somebody who owns the assets.

Excuse me. A steward is not somebody who owns the assets. A steward is somebody who manages those assets for somebody else. When you're a steward, it doesn't belong to you. You have control of it, but it's not yours to use for your purpose. It's something that the master gave you for his purposes.

So you've got four images that all communicate the exact same thing. You should live ready. You should live in anticipation of your master's return. Very busy about your task.

Very busy about your task. And if you don't live that way, you're not really my disciple. Did you notice the wording of verses 46 and 47?

If when the master returns, he doesn't find you ready, you will be cut in pieces and he will put you with the unfaithful. I mean, how much clearer could he get? You're going to get the exact same judgment that the unsafe person gets. You know, this is serious stuff.

Again, Luke seems very concerned that you realize that a lot of people think they're followers of Jesus, but actually aren't. That's demonstrated by the fact that they just don't live ready. So what does this look like, practically speaking? What's it look like to live ready, practically speaking? Let me give you three things, three characteristics you can glean from these stories about the lives of the ready. Number one, you will be awake to your task. You will be awake to your task. Verse 37, blessed are those whom the master finds awake.

You can read there, active at the task when he comes. What is that task? Well, what is the specific task that Jesus has given to us before he left? We call it the Great Commission, right?

Well, we are commissioned to do. Matthew 28, 19 and 20, go into all the world, all the nations, and make disciples of all the nations. We call that the Great Commission because it is Jesus' marching orders for his church.

This is the task for the church right now. Our mission is to make disciples from every nation. By the way, the Greek word for nations there in that verse is not a reference to the 206 nation states that are in existence.

They are in existence in the world right now. The word in Greek, pantata ethne, all the nations, is a reference to the different ethnic and language groups. You can see that in the word ethne. Pantata, all the ethnicities, the different cultures and ethnicities.

Sociologists say that there are a total of 17,442 of those ethne in the world in existence today. Our task is not finished until there is a thriving, church planting, disciple making disciple movement among every single one of them. You want to know what God is mostly doing in the world right now, that's it. It's what he wants us to be doing.

Luke records it this way in Luke 24, 47. He says, for as it is written, this gospel of repentance must be preached. This forgiveness of sins has to be preached in all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Y'all, you wonder why we talk so much at this church about global missions.

It's not because we like to travel. It is because it's what we know the master has given us as our great task. So the question you've got to ask yourself is, are you doing anything personally with that? Are you giving? Are you praying? Are you going? We've had a thousand of you, by the way, go on short-term trips here from the Summit Church in the last couple of years.

Have you gone yet? You see, when it comes to the Great Commission, it's like John Piper says, you've only got three options, to go, to send, or to disobey. That's one of our tasks. Here's another one I think this passage points to, and that is meeting the physical needs of the people around us. Do you notice that in verse 42, in verse 42, Jesus describes the faithful and wise manager as the one who gives others their portion of food at the proper time. I think you can deduce from that that the faithful servant is the one making sure the physical needs of people around them are met.

He is using his resources to make sure that other people get fed. The unfaithful servants in this parable are those who, verse 45, begin to beat the male and female servants and to eat and to drink and get drunk. In other words, they use, they commandeer what God gave them to bless others to take care of only themselves. And I'm sure they're like, but, well, this is mine. A lot of people today in our church, in any church, look at their money as their own.

They're like, well, I earned this. I worked for it. It's mine. I can do whatever I want with it.

Right? And so, I mean, yeah, I'll give God his, you know, little tax and everything, but if I want to use all this stuff to buy a bigger house, better clothes, nicer stuff, that's my prerogative. Whose prerogative would it be? It belongs to me. I worked for it. But, friend, realize that is not how God sees your resources. Yes, you worked for it.

And, yes, God wants you to enjoy it. But the master said, who is the one who you think gave you those talents? Who gave you the opportunities?

You understand there's a huge difference between walking through a door of opportunity and creating that door in the first place. That air that you breathe, those talents you employ, that health you enjoy, the earth you walk on. Where did all that come from? God says, I gave you all that. I gave you the ability to multiply money. I gave it to you with the responsibility to use it for my purposes. But you commandeered all of that and turned it inward on yourself and you got besotted with the world's pleasures and thought only about your needs and you got drunk on the world and you were asleep at the task.

Do not miss this. God considers us not using our resources to bless others as an act of grave injustice. It's not just a failure to be generous. It is an act of injustice. I've shown you this before, but the apostle Paul talks about our failure to share the gospel with the nations or the people around us.

He talks about it in terms of injustice. Romans 1 14. Paul says, I am a debtor. I am under obligation to people that have never heard the gospel. You have to ask, why would he be under obligation to those people? It's because he understood that with the privilege of hearing the gospel comes the responsibility to share it with those who have never heard. Followers of Jesus are those who live ready. So are we watching, waiting, and working for him each day until he returns? That's a good reminder today to live on purpose here on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. We're in a brand new teaching series here on the program called In Step. And if you happen to join us late today, or if you'd like to catch up on any previous broadcast in our study in the book of Luke, visit us at jdgreer.com. In this current teaching series, J.D., you emphasize stepping out in faith by committing to do whatever God calls us to do and to go wherever he calls us to go, even though we don't know what the journey is going to hold for us. How does the discipline of memorizing scripture or any other spiritual discipline for that matter help us step out in faith? You know, I've heard it said, Molly, that the best way to confront a lie is to know the truth.

And our world is filled with lies, and we know that our enemy uses lies. Well, the way that you counteract Satan's lies is you memorize scripture and be able to apply the right scripture at the right moment. The Spirit of God will do some amazing things in your heart with scripture, but he cannot bring to the surface what you haven't put in there. And so one of the things we want to do at Summit Life is help people know scripture better. That comes not just through preaching. It also comes through memorizing scripture. Memorizing scripture is one of those things that people, you know, they're like, man, it'd be great if I did that. But sometimes it's, you know, the journey of a thousand miles.

I don't know how to take the first step. So we produce some scripture memory cards. And so we'd love to be able to give you these.

I think it would be a great tool. Some specifically chosen verses that will enrich your spiritual life, take you deeper in the gospel and help you counteract the lies of Satan. We put together a pack of 50 of these for you. If you want to carry these promises in your heart, our new Summit Life memory verse cards make it easy for you to memorize scripture.

So take a look and reserve yours today at jdgrier.com. You know, I could probably list a dozen reasons why this is such an important thing for us to do throughout our lives. But for the sake of time, here are the top four reasons. Number one, Jesus memorized scripture. He quoted from 24 different books, roughly 180 times. It's clear that he thought of the scriptures as the ultimate authority in life and a way to understand the heart and the desires of God. Why would we not follow Jesus by knowing and trusting scripture the way that he did? Second, we are called to memorize scripture. Colossians 3 16 tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 9 tells us to bind God's law on our foreheads, teach it to our children, talk about it wherever we go, and to make it an integral part of our lives. Third, memorizing scripture renews our mind and transforms our life. And lastly, memorizing scripture helps against temptation.

In Jesus' time of temptation in the wilderness, he countered Satan's deceitful words with words of truth found in scripture. We'd love to get you a copy as our way of saying thanks when you donate to support this ministry. Summit Life is funded by listeners like you.

So when you give, you're actually giving to another listener and helping them dive deep into the gospel. Join that mission by giving today and remember to ask for our brand new Rejoice Always scripture memory cards. Call 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220.

Or give online at jdgreer.com. That's J-D-G-R-E-E-A-R.com. I'm Molly Bidevich inviting you to join us again next week when Pastor JD continues this teaching series titled In Step.

How do we stay awake to the reality that Jesus could return at any time? Well, we're coming in hot here in 2022, and we'll see you again right here next week on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.