“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are showing us our priority. Teach us, Lord, not to be excessively troubled about the sequencing of events before Your coming. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
Acts 1:6-7 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (7) And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. The Lord was wanting the disciples to be focused on the matter of being His witnesses, after the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to reconcile an alienated world back to God.
Luke 12:35-48 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; (36) and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. (37) Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. (38) And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. (39) But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. (40) Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
(41) Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?” (42) And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? (43) Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. (44) Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. (45) But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, (46) the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. (47) And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. (48) But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
To whom much is given, much will be required. We are the disciples of Jesus. This teaching applies directly to us. What it is that is expected of us, specifically, as disciples of Christ, as we await the Lord’s return ? Firstly, we must be growing in the image of Jesus. Colossians 1:27-28 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (28) Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. This is for us both individually, as well as the church. We are therefore building each other into the image of Jesus.
Secondly, we are here on earth to bring the kingdom rule of God. We pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As we establish the kingdom rule of God here on earth, we will have to confront the enemy and defeat him. Matthew 16:18-19 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (19) And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Thirdly, our task as disciples of Jesus, is to reconcile people back into the Shalom or the kingdom of God, through the cross. II Corinthians 5:18-20 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, (19) that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (20) Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. We, as disciples of Jesus, will be assessed more severely, for much has been committed to us.
Our awareness
“Lord, the task for us, as Your church, is clearly spelt out for us. We have no excuse for our lukewarmness.”