Who then is the faithful and wise servant?

Matthew 24:1-51

Key Verse 24:45

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?”

1. Read v. 1 and compare this passage with 26:1-2. How many more days did Jesus have here on earth?

2. Read v. 2. When did the event Jesus spoke of happen? Why do you think it happened? (John 2:21; Eph 2:19-22)

3. Read v. 3 and compare the disciples' questions with the question Jesus asked the disciples in v. 45. What does this comparison indicate about the main concerns of: 1) Jesus' disciples; and 2) Jesus? 

4. Think about the first question the disciples asked Jesus: "When will this happen?" Did Jesus answer the question? 

5. Consider Jesus' answer (4-44) to the disciples' second question: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" What is the point of Jesus' answer? (4, 44)

6. Read vs. 45-51. Suppose you are the master. On your return, how would you treat: 1) the good servant; and 2) the wicked servant? 

7. Read vs. 50-51 again. Why would the master of the wicked servant come (or return) on a day when his servant does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of? Why do you think Jesus ended his answer to the disciples’ questions this way?

 Who then is the faithful and wise servant?

Matthew 24:1-51

Key Verse 24:45

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?”

In this passage, prior to Jesus' departure, Jesus gave his disciples a brief summary of the events to occur and the things they are called to do until the day of his return.

1. Read v. 1 and compare this passage with 26:1-2. How many more days did Jesus have here on earth?

** Two more days to go till the day of his crucifixion

2. Read v. 2. When did the event Jesus spoke of happen? Why do you think it happened? (John 2:21; Eph 2:19-22)

** A.D. 70

** As of Jesus' death and resurrection, Jesus became the living temple, so this physical temple no longer became necessary. When we accept Jesus in our hearts, Jesus the living temple arises in us. 

3. Read v. 3 and compare the disciples' questions with the question Jesus asked the disciples in v. 45. What does this comparison indicate about the main concerns of: 1) Jesus' disciples; and 2) Jesus? 

** Jesus' disciples were concerned about when and what. They had a sort of unhealthy interest in the issue of the so called eschatology. 

Once you deeply repent and turn to Christ, that turn becomes determinative of the future, including your salvation. As you remain faithful to the Lord, no matter what happens in the future, either good or bad, will only work out for your own good; even bad things will turn out to be good opportunities for you such as doing good to others like sharing the gospel.  

** Jesus' concern was salvation/protection/provision for the flock of God put under the care of his disciples. Consider Jesus’ command to preach the gospel to all nations, despite unfavorable circumstances, feeding the flock of God in each fellowship or family. Jesus was about to leave the world, leaving the work to be done primarily in the hands of the disciples. (Cf. Mat 28:18-20) He is now concerned about the salvation of all to the end, to the last soul not losing even one. 

4. Think about the first question the disciples asked Jesus: "When will this happen?" Did Jesus answer the question? 

** Jesus did not say, "Oh, yes. It will come down on A.D. 70." He did not say a thing about when the temple might come down. Most likely Jesus knew that the disciples associated the time of the temple coming down with the time of Jesus' second coming and of the end of the age. So in order not to get them confused, Jesus did not specify the time of temple coming down. 

5. Consider Jesus' answer (4-44) to the disciples' second question: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" What is the point of Jesus' answer? (4, 44)

** Jesus covered a lot of ground, but the point is simple: watch out, so no one would deceive you; 'be ready'. 

[Some technical notes: 

a) Why do people get deceived? Answer: 2Ti 3:13 (it is due to the evil inside; see also 1Jo 3:8); 

b) Why do unbelieving people, their world/environments, get only worse (wars, rumors of wars, famine, etc. getting worse) (even the nature such as moon stars, sun etc.) becoming increasingly disorderly in crescendo? Answer: it is because of the decree the Lord called to set in motion, that the farther away one removes himself from the Lord, the worse the conditions of himself and his environment will get. Cf. Romans 1:18-32, Gen 3, Gen 15:16, etc.); 

c) one of the common threads that run through the events good or bad is termed as the process of birth pains, that is, the gospel (giving new birth to a dying soul) to be preached to the people of the world hostile to the gospel;

d) fig tree referring to the nation Israel, that is, fig tree withered and the nation Israel disappeared, but fig tree came back and nation Israel revived, indicating that in preparation for his second coming, the fig tree (cf. Jeremiah 24:1-7) mysteriously came back to life with its twigs getting tender just as the nation Israel came to be up and running again beginning May 14, 1948; 

e) most likely 'this generation' in v. 34 refers to the generation of the fig tree having sprouted, going through the summer into the fall season that is, the time of second crop of harvest; 

f) Most likely the events described in vs. 15-25 are yet to occur, and when they do occur, they will hit Jerusalem/Judea first; 

g) Holy place referred to in v. 15 is indicative of the third temple to come in sooner than later in Jerusalem, only to be desecrated by the lawless man/antichrist to come; 

h) Arguably the block buster events esp. unequaled distress described in vs. 15-25 will last a relatively short period of time (three and a half years plus 30 days or 1290 days (Dnl 12:11) (cf. Mat 24:22); 

i) the elect in v. 22 - believers in Jesus be it Jews or Gentiles; 

j) v. 28 might refer to the weeds bound to be uprooted (cf. Mat 13:30); 

k) 'taken' (destroyed) vs.  ‘left’ (spared) (cf. 39). 

6. Read vs. 45-51. Suppose you are the master. On your return, how would you treat: 1) the good servant; and 2) the wicked servant? 

** I would do more or less the same as the master in the passage.

7. Read vs. 50-51 again. Why would the master of the wicked servant come (or return) on a day when his servant does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of? Why do you think Jesus ended his answer to the disciples’ questions this way?

** That is the way to make a correct assessment of the work/evil/abuse committed.

** It is to warn the disciples to focus on their duties rather than being busy to save their skin.

The end

Who then is the faithful and wise servant?

Mt 24

Kv 45

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 

Hello.  

I have a question for you. When is Jesus coming back? Jesus doesn’t give a specific time or day when he will, but he does give us a very specific moment when he will, when is that moment? When we don’t expect it. When I think of something that I don’t expect, I think of a car accident. It happens instantly, and then, it’s over and it happened, and then it’s too late to slam on the brake, or do anything about it. Because Jesus is coming at a time when we don’t expect it, when he does come our true self will be revealed. Because we don’t expect it we will be doing our daily routine as usual, and then His second coming will be over and then it will be too late to go back. In this passage, Jesus is about to leave this world, and yet he is going to come back. We are right in the middle, and perhaps it is close to the time of his return. Jesus tells us about his coming then he tells how to prepare for it. Should we prepare by going to the grand canyon, or quitting our job or do something we’ve always dreamed of. This happened recently, a group thought they knew the date, so certain members of the group went to the grand canyon, and quit there job. But this is not how Jesus wants us to prepare for his coming. What are we to do? Jesus asks us to be a servant. But not just any type of servant. Jesus asks us to be a faithful and wise servant, but there are also lazy and foolish servants. From this passage, I hope we can figure out what it means to be a faithful and wise servant. 

Part one - don't be deceived

Faithful and wise servants are not deceived. The passage starts out with Jesus saying something interesting about a temple. Jesus leaves the temple with his disciples and says in verse 2, let’s read verse 2 together, "² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.” This worried the disciples because this building was very important. It was a beautiful temple and the thought of it being destroyed was crazy. The disciples thought about this and then asked Jesus a question in verse 3, "³when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” They did not only ask about the temple but also about the second coming and the end of the age. The first thing Jesus says in response to this question is to not be deceived. Let’s read verses 4 and 5 together, "⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,^[HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mt%2024&version=NIV1984#_blank"^a]’ and will deceive many." The first sign of Jesus second coming is false Christ’s. He also mentions about being deceived again in verses 11 and 23 through 27. We can be deceived in all parts and times or our Christian life. We can be deceived by so many things in this world in every stage of our life. People who are deceived are tricked into giving up something they have. And it's really sad to see it happen to someone. I had a friend once who really wanted a parrot, I don’t remember which kind, but it was one in africa. For some reason he just wanted one, I don't know why. So he found a website that sold animals including the parrot he wanted. The person selling the parrot was in africa, so because the currency in africa is not worth as much as the dollar, my friend could buy the bird at a much cheaper price. So he was excited. He bought the bird and paid the shipping costs and some other fees. But then the person selling the bird kept adding other charges, like an airport security fee, and a lot of other things. I actually loaned him some money to pay for some of the fees. So I was deceived too. Eventually the cost rose to several hundred dollars…and guess what…he never got the bird. What did he have to show for that? Nothing. And he really regretted it. When we are deceived like this, we gain nothing and only lose and we regret it. But when Satan deceives us we don't just lose something we lose everything. Not being deceived is probably the most important part of being a faithful and wise servant. Because if we're deceived everything will be taken away from us. Satan and the world will try so hard to deceive us into believing that forbidden things, things we shouldn't be doing, will be sweeter than things we should be doing. We will be deceived into thinking that being our own master will be better than being a servant of God. We will be deceived into thinking that we can find love, security, and happiness in things other than God. We all want these things, but we can only find them in God, everything else is a deception. We heard Daniel's message to take up our cross and follow Jesus. That sounds hard doesn’t it? To deny ourselves like that. But the truth is that's how we can find security, love, and happiness. But because it sounds hard it might, to us, sound easier to let ourselves be deceived even if it's bad for us. Now here, Jesus is talking about a very specific kind of deception. If we’re deceived about the one thing he’s talking about, the result will be our death. The thing that people could be deceived about is that Jesus coming will be ambiguous. But it's not ambiguous, it will happen instantly and everyone will know. Jesus tells us not to listen to anyone who claims to be him because his coming will be crystal clear to everyone. Why will people be deceived in the first place? It's because they don't know what's written right here or they don't treat it as the word of God. We need to know the word of God so we won't be deceived. I pray that each of us can know the word of God very well. Also in the word of God we find all we need to know about Jesus second coming…all the signs and everything leading up to it. We need to know about this event and not be deceived about it because our salvation comes through Christ so we can't mix him up with somebody else. So being not being deceived is a matter of life and death.

Part two – love grows cold

A faithful and wise servant’s love does not grow cold. Jesus continues to answer the question about his second coming. He tells us more signs, earthquakes, famines, and wars. There is also persecution and this persecution leads to many other things. Let's read verses 9-13, " ⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Because of this persecution many will turn away and betray God and hate each other and this will lead to false prophets who deceive even more people. There will be less and less love in the world. A faithful and wise servant continues to love while everyone else not. Jesus describes it as the love of most growing cold. There are many examples of this. At some point someone loves God and serves him. Then they are persecuted and because of this they leave God. At this point, because they turned away from the faith, they can't help but live in hate, and be cold, even to those who love them and those they used to love in Christ, because they are living in their sinful nature again. So this happens to believers today, but as the time draws nearer for the second coming it will happen more and more. And because it happens more and more the true believers will be evident. Jesus says the love of "most" will grow cold. So there will be believers who love a lot now, but as persecution grows, there will love will grow cold. Maybe some of us too. We may love a lot now, but our love could grow cold. Why would love grow cold? Because it's going to get harder and harder to love. It's hard to love people right now and just imagine if people are even more wicked as the time gets closer and closer. Paul describes the way people will be in the last days, I’ll read for you 2 Tim 3 verses 1-5, "¹ But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. " Is it easy to love these people? No, it's not. Love is selfless, according to these verses in the end times everyone will be selfish. Many will be indifferent to other's and to God and only care about themselves...that is love growing gold…selfishness and being indifferent to others. Now love is very practical. You can't just say you love someone and not show it, they won't believe you. My wife wants me to express my love to her in specific ways, likewise it’s the same with God. We can't just love in the way we think is best. We need to show our love the way God wants us to show our love. How does God want us to show our love? Let's read verse 14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." God wants us to show our love by preaching the gospel. This shows our love to God because we are obeying what he says.

This is also the greatest way we can show our love to others, by helping them come to Christ. This shows love because you have to love someone to help them come to Christ. It takes patience and a lot of time. When you feed sheep you're trying to save them from judgment and punishment, you're trying to be selfless. That is great love, trying to save someone. What punishment are you saving them from? Jesus talks about it in verses 15-29. Jesus says it is an unequaled disaster from the beginning of the world until now. Jesus also quotes Isaiah, " ‘the sun will be darkened,  and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’" We need to love people and save them from this judgment. What will happen to the people we save? Let's read verses 30 and 31 together," ³⁰ “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." Those who are not saved will be left on the earth. But those we tried to love and help, if they bore fruit and repented, they will be saved, and they will be gathered up and taken into heaven. Even if the entire world’s love is growing cold, I pray that we can all be faithful and wise servants with our love even growing.

Part 3 overcoming the world

A faithful and wise servant overcomes the world. Let's read verses 36-39a, " ³⁶ “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mt%2024&version=NIV1984#_blank"^f] but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away."

Jesus mentions Noah. Noah was a faithful and wise servant. How was he a faithful and wise servant? Because of 2 things. He believed the word of God and he obeyed the word of God. 

No one expected a great flood to come...no one. People were just having a good time, eating, drinking, and marrying. No one had any idea what was to come.

This world is in the same condition as it was with Noah's flood. People are just having a good time, working hard, having a family, and just enjoying life. But they have absolutely no idea what is going to happen. Like the flood, Jesus will arrive suddenly with unexpected judgment. In preparation for this time, we should follow Noah’s example and overcome the world that we live in. We have to overcome our sin and obey God. Noah had to overcome the world. Despite what everyone else was doing, he had to deny himself, serve God, and build the ark; he had to save himself. Despite what everyone else is doing in this world, we need to save ourselves. Who doesn't want to just take it easy and do what everyone else is doing? 

When I grew up I was caught up with doing what everyone else was doing. I was born into a nice home. I had a loving mother and father and a brother and sister. My parents always told me when I got older that the most important thing I can do is get a good job that pays well so I can have a house, be secure, have nice cars, and have insurance. Everyone of my relatives bought into this idea as well. I was completely surrounded by this idea. So I went through life, trying to do well in school, thinking always to myself, "get a job so I can have a good life." 

Has anyone heard of the determinist theory of personality? Meaning we are the product our upbringing and our environment. We really can't rise above it, in a sense we are shackled to the environment in which we are raised. And if you take the example of myself and give it to any determinist they could drive home the point that I really did not stand a solitary chance of coming to God and being a servant of God. The bible denounces the determinist and firmly teaches that every human being has within him the God given ability to rise above his environment by virtue of the fact that God has made us in his image and he can speak to an individual and tell him what is right and what is wrong and give them the power to do what is right.

Maybe the environment you're in is complete chaos, and everything around sinful and displeases God, you can still come to God, God can speak to you and help you to do what is right. As Noah built the ark, despite everything around him, we too can come to God and find peace in him, despite everything that is around us.

Part 4 keep watch

The last part of being a faithful and wise servant is keeping watch. Jesus tells us to keep watch, because we do not know what day Jesus will come. Verse 42 says, " ⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. " Keeping watch does not mean "look for" or "anticipate immediately," but borrows the image of a night watchman at his post. The believer must remain prepared for the Lord's coming, remaining alert and awake. Why do we need to keep watch, because Jesus will come at an hour we do not expect. It will be like a thief. Verse 43 says, “⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into." You don’t know when a thief is coming and it will be the same as with the second coming. Sometimes my wife asks me to do some things when she’s not home like cleaning up or buying groceries. If I know when she’s coming, I wait as long as I can do it, and do it right before she gets home. That’s not how God wants us to do things, that is why we don’t know the time. Jesus continues this point of not knowing in Verse 44 it says, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Verse 42 says that we must keep watch and verse 44 says we must be ready, but then, right after he tells us we must be ready he asks us a question, “who then is the faithful and wise servant?" So being ready and keeping watch is directly related to us being a faithful and wise servant. Jesus did not just tell us about the second coming but added in his own question. Jesus had just finished telling us the signs. These signs were false Christs, deceivers, wars, famines, persecution, love growing cold, and the world becoming like in the time of Noah. With all of this happening in our world. With our world getting worse and worse and people getting increasingly wicked and selfish, Jesus asks us, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant?” Who will not be deceived? Who will continue to love when most are not? Who will overcome the world like Noah? Let’s think about how Jesus describes such a servant. The main way that this servant is described is that he is giving his fellow servants their food at the proper time. Basically he is taking care of others, he is loving others. The biggest part of us being a faithful and wise servant is taking care of others, by giving them, food. Food so they won’t die. We need to give food to others, so they won’t die…spiritual food. Food that gives life. As a faithful and wise servant we should be giving others the word of God so they can have life, but what makes him faithful is that he is always doing it. Let’s read verse 46, “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.” And our reward for doing this is great verse 47 says, “I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”

Jesus describes a wicked servant next. Verses 48-51 says, "⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ 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. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This wicked servant lacks the 4 parts of being a wise and faithful servant. He was deceived into thinking the master wouldn’t come, he did not continue to love his fellow servants, he did not overcome the world, and did exactly what it does, and he did not keep watch for the master. Instead here, when the master returns, the servant is punished, he is cut into pieces and is placed with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Maybe it feels like this punishment is severe. But we need to understand that this is our job. Our job, that God has given us, is the job of being a faithful and wise servant, taking care of and watching over the other servants. If we don’t do our job, we are thrown out and punished. If we have a job, and we’re not doing it, we’re going to be fired, and thrown out.

Through preparing message, I have a lot of repenting to do of not being a faithful and wise servant. My love is growing cold. When I was a student I was so busy. I was taking engineering courses, working 20-25 hours a week, feeding many sheep, and also doing many ministry related activities. My life had a lot of outward disciplines. But when I graduated, got married, started working full time, I was in a way given freedom from a lot of my responsibilities, and as soon as that happened I started to play and not take Jesus coming seriously and not thinking about his second coming at all. It’s not like I disregarded it, it just wasn’t on my mind. I became lazy and started to live only for my own pleasure. I haven’t been fishing in a month, I’m really casual about contacting bible students, and I’m not as active in seeking a relationship with Him. My excuses would be I just got back from work…so I need to rest…but the rest would be hours and hours, just wasting time on the computer. I want to find pleasure in him again, by anticipating his coming and wanting to be with him. May God help each of us to be ready any time he comes by being a faithful and wise servant.