Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Faithful Servant and the Returning Master (Matthew 24:45-51)

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The Faithful Servant and the Returning Master (Matthew 24:45-51) · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when you talk about waiting for someone,
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there's like, a clear expectation of a timeline.
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Yeah. A.
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Schedule. Right, a schedule.
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Think about waiting at an airport, for instance.
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You check the departures board. You see a flight is delayed and
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while you just sit back, you grab a coffee.
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You relax a bit. Because you have the data, yeah.
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It's comfortable because you possess that data, you know what
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to expect. But then you step into the world
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of biblical prophecy and, you know, personal accountability,
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and suddenly that departures board just goes completely
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blank. Which is terrifying.
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Really it is. You're left in the waiting room,
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the door is closed and you have like no idea when the person
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you're waiting for will walk through it.
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And that psychological shit, I mean, it alters everything about
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human behavior and moves from this casual wait to a scenario
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charged with intense, unbroken tension.
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You can't simply check your watch and calculate you know how
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much time you have left to slack off before you need to look
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busy. The certainty of the arrival is
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absolute, but the timing is completely obscured by design.
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Which brings us to what we're doing today.
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Welcome to reformed thinking. Today we are taking you on a
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rigorous theological and exegetical deep dive into
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Matthew 24, specifically verses 45 through 51.
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It's a heavy text. Oh, very heavy.
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Our mission today is to understand the weighty mandate
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given to stewards of the Church during this interval, this
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period between Christ's ascension and his expected
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return. And we want to point out right
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from the start to you listening that this is not a text for
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calculating dates. No, definitely not.
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If you're looking for speculative charts mapping out
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the end of the world where you won't find them, here.
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Instead, we're looking at a stark, terrifying, and glorious
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portrait of accountability. We're going to take our time
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establishing this premise today. We want to let these massive
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concepts breathe, so we'll be moving deliberately through the
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source material, allowing the full weight of the theology to
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settle. And we need to, because the
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human tendency born of a fallen nature is to mistake patience
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for absence. Oh, that's a good way to put it.
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Yeah, In a modern age of digital distraction and frankly, highly
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pragmatic church models, these verses confront the creeping rot
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of complacency. We have to awaken to the reality
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that the apparent delay of Jesus Christ is never a license for
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sin. No, it's a test.
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A severe calculated test of stewardship.
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The lack of a timeline is the absolute definition of
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structural test of character. It reveals what you actually
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believe about the person you're waiting for.
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Right. But before we analyze the text
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itself, you need to understand the exact historical and
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cultural pressure surrounding these words.
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O Let's set the scene vividly. It's Wednesday of Assion week.
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Just days before the cross. Yeah, Jesus is seated on the
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Mount of Olives. He's looking over the
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magnificent temple in Jerusalem, a structure he is just cursed at
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destruction. He's days away from the
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crucifixion, and the disciples are sitting there, likely still,
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just reeling from his declaration that not one stone
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of the temple will be left upon another.
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Try to like, put yourself in the sandals of those men.
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The psychological weight must have been immense.
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I can't even imagine right. Israel's leaders had rejected
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her Messiah. Jerusalem's house was being left
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desolate. Jesus was speaking to ordinary
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Jewish men who had attached their entire existence to him,
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and he was preparing them for a future marked by massive
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societal upheaval, widespread deception and violent
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persecution. And he's giving them a
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framework. Yeah, a framework for how to
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live under his Lordship during the interval between his
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imminent departure and his glorious return.
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He's preparing them to transition from being followers
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of a present rabbi to stewards of an absent king.
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And when he gives them this framework, he leans into a very
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specific cultural dynamic. The Greco Roman and ancient Near
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Eastern household structures relied heavily on the role of
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the Doulos. Which translates to slave.
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Right. Or the oikonomos, which is a
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steward. These individuals occupied this
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bizarre social paradox. They had 0 autonomy, yet they
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held vast delegated authority over incredibly wealthy estates
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while the owner was away in a far country.
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It's such a foreign concept to us today.
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It is. Think about a modern equivalent.
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It's like a modern CEO handing over total control of a massive
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multinational corporation to a middle manager, handing over the
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keys to the entire treasury, giving them control over human
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resources and the corporate checkbook, and then just
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disappearing. No return date, no forwarding
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address. Yeah, just gone so.
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I have a question about that. Would the cultural reality of a
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1st century steward carry a psychological weight of dread,
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or was it seen as an honor? Well, it was a staggering
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combination of both. The disciples would have
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instantly recognized the covenantal weight of this
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arrangement. To be the doulos placed over the
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household meant you possess the physical keys to the the
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storehouse. You had the actual.
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Power. Real, tangible power.
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You commanded the lesser workers.
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You dispensed the daily rations. It was a position of immense
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honor, but the accountability was absolute and often fatal if
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mismanaged. Because you didn't own anything.
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Right. You didn't own the estate, you
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managed it. When Jesus used this
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illustration, He was tapping into a reality where a steward's
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life literally depended on executing the will of the absent
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master. The disciples understood that
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the delay was not a vacation for the master, and it certainly
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wasn't a vacation for the servant.
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It was an active period of stewardship.
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The estate still had to turn a profit.
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The fields still had to be sown. The people still had to be fed.
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Exactly. We also have to frame this
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within a specific eschatological lens, though.
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We're looking at dispensational theology here, referencing
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Daniel's 70th week and distinguishing between Israel
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and the church to apply a literal, grammatical, historical
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hermeneutic. The primary immediate context is
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Jewish. Yes, that's crucial to grasp.
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In the preceding verses of Matthew 24, Jesus outlines
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future judgments and signs of the Tribulation, Daniel's 70th
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week leading up to the visible millennial Kingdom on earth.
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So the direct context pertains to the believing remnant of
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Israel who will be waiting for the Messiah's return at the end
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of that tribulation period. However well the primary context
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is Jewish, the moral mandate transcends dispensational
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boundaries. The underlying principle of
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readiness applies directly to the Church today.
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Because the character of God doesn't change, yeah.
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The master has departed to a far country, and he has left his
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under shepherds to feed his household.
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The ethical demands of stewardship don't change just
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because the dispensation shifts. The character of the master
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remains consistent and therefore the requirement for the servant
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remains consistent. We also can't ignore the looming
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shadow of AD 70. The destruction of Jerusalem by
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the Romans under Titus was a catastrophic historical event
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that vindicated Jesus's prophetic authority.
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It displayed severe covenantal judgement upon an unbelieving
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generation. And that historical grounding
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matters. The Olivet Discourse reaches
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beyond that near judgement of 8070 to the final return of the
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Son of Man. But that historical destruction
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is crucial. The historical particularity of
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the discourse anchors its authority in the words of the
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Incarnate King. Because it actually happened.
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It actually happened. Jesus was preparing real men,
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sitting outside a real city, facing an actual impending
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societal collapse, to minister under a Kingdom that cannot be
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shaken. When 8070 happened, any
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surviving Christian who remembered these words would
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have realized that Jesus's warnings were not abstract
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metaphors. They were literal.
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They were literal, and therefore his promises about his final
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return were equally literal. OK, so we have the historical
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and cultural setting locked in. Now let's shift to how this
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specific passage functions structurally within Matthew's
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Gospel. The literary context is just
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fascinating to me. Matthew 24.4544 acts as a
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transition, a hinge for the entire Olivet Discourse.
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Yeah. It's a massive pivot.
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In verses one through 35, you have Jesus focusing on
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chronological markers, the signs of the times, the cosmic
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disturbances. You have the sun going dark, the
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moon not giving its light, the stars falling from the sky.
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But then verse 36 hits and everything pivots abruptly, he
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says. But of that day and hour, no one
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knows, and suddenly the genre shifts from prophetic prediction
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to urgent practical exhortation. The momentum builds from the
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absolute inevitability of the return to the total
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unpredictability of its timing. To illustrate this suddenness,
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Jesus uses 2 striking apologies right before our main text.
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The days of Noah, right? Yes, first he talks about the
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days of Noah. People in Noah's day were
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eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.
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They were carrying on with ordinary, mundane life,
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completely oblivious until the flood swept them all away.
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They. Were just doing normal stuff.
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Normal stuff. Ignoring the warning, then he
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used the analogy of a homeowner and a thief in the night.
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If the homeowner had known the hour the thief was coming, he
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would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken
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into. These analogies strip away any
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illusion of a predictable timeline.
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They destroy the idea that you will get a two week warning to
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get your spiritual house in order.
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And that leads right into our passage, which then sets up the
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parables. In Matthew 25.
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You have the Parable of the 10 Virgins, which focuses on inward
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readiness, possessing actual oil in the lamps rather than just
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carrying the outward vessel. And then you have the Parable of
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the Talents, which focuses on outward action, trading and
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investing what the master gave. So our passage is the bridge
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between the cosmic and the practical.
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And I'm struck by the structural observation.
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Jesus shifts from global cosmic catastrophes to a hyperlocal
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domestic kitchen scenario. It's like a literary whiplash.
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Yeah, it feels like whiplash. Does this sudden zoom in makes
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the warning feel more inescapable for the individual?
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Oh, without a doubt, that whiplash is intentional.
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When Jesus talks about stars falling from the sky or nations
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rising against nations, it is easy for a person to hide in the
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crowd. It feels vast, distant, and
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slightly impersonal. You can just.
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Stare at the sky. Right.
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But when he naries the lens to a single household, a single
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pantry, and a single steward managing daily meals, it pierces
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the individual conscience. Cosmic signs let you look up at
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the sky. The kitchen pantry forces you to
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look at your own hands. This literary structure proves
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that eschatology is intensely ethical.
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What a person believes about the end times directly dictates
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their daily conduct. You cannot separate your
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theology of the future from your behavior in the present because
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the master's return is certain but the timing is unknown.
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The only logical posture is relentless faithfulness to the
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assigned task. And that brings us directly to
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the first of the two hypothetical destinies Christ
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presents. Let's look at the anatomy of
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faithfulness. Jesus asks, Who then is the
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faithful and sensible slave? The Greek terms used here are
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pistos and fronomos. Pistos means trustworthy,
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reliable, showing active covenantal loyalty.
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And fronomos means sensible. Right, sensible, prudent, or
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practically wise? Those two words must be held
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together tightly. Faithfulness without wisdom
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might become blind zeal without discernment, causing a steward
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to work incredibly hard at the wrong tasks.
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Yeah, just reading in circles. Right.
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And on the flip side, wisdom without faithfulness might
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become clever disobedience. Whereas Steward knows how the
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house should be run but uses that knowledge to benefit
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himself. The Master requires both.
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In biblical theology, wisdom is never just academic intellect,
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it's the practical, boots on the ground application of truth to
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reality. The faithful steward understands
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the reality of the Master's imminent return and organizes
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his entire life around that single fact.
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O looking at the practical application, the specific action
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required of the steward is providing trophy which is food
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or nourishment at the proper time in the context of the
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church. Our sources apply this to modern
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ministry. This means providing food
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equates to expositional preaching, delivering sound
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doctrine, and preaching the whole counsel of God.
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Yes, it's about nourishing the household rather than
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entertaining them. The steward's job is to go into
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the pantry of Scripture, take the nutrients God has provided,
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and prepare a meal that sustains the spiritual life of the sheep.
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And that distinction between nourishing and entertaining is
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vital, the text notes. Giving the right food at the
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proper season. The steward does not starve the
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household with negligence, he doesn't poison it with
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theological error, and he certainly doesn't entertain it
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with empty novelties or cultural fads.
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Which we see a lot of. We do.
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But the faithful steward isn't driven by pragmatism or the
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consumer market desires of the hearers.
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He is driven solely by the master's assignment.
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The master left specific provisions in the storehouse,
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and the steward is judged on his fidelity in distributing them.
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I do have to offer a little push back here though.
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Is there a danger in assuming that providing food at the
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proper time means rigid intellectual theology, missing
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the actual emotional or spiritual needs of the
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household? Can a Stewart deliver perfectly
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sound doctrine from a pulpit but completely failed to nourish the
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people? That's a very real danger.
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If we misunderstand what sound doctrine is.
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The remedy lies in the concept of derivative authority.
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The steward does not invent the menu.
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They distribute what the master has provided.
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True sound doctrine is not cold intellectualism.
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The pantry of Scripture contains comfort for the afflicted,
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patience for the struggling, sharp warnings for the wayward,
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and pure gospel grace for the broken.
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It's a full pantry. It is a full pantry.
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Giving food at the proper time means the steward must assess
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the actual true spiritual condition of the household and
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apply the exact act remedy provided by God's Word.
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If the household is grieving, you don't feed them a rigid
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lecture on church government, you feed them the promises of
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the resurrection. The steward is not autonomous.
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The high soul belongs to Christ, the sheep belong to Christ, and
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the truth belongs to Christ. The faithful steward is simply a
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waiter carrying a tree from the kitchen to the table.
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I love that image. And when the master returns and
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finds the servant doing exactly this, there is a massive reward.
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The text says the master sets the faithful worker over all his
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possessions. All of them?
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Yeah, all of his possessions. There is a staggering logic of
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grace at work here. We need to be careful not to
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read this as a workspace salvation.
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Disobedience does not purchase the Kingdom, it evidences
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allegiance. Yes, the reward is wildly
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disproportionate to the servant's merit.
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A steward simply doing his assigned job of passing out
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grain doesn't naturally earn the right to own the entire estate.
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Yet it is completely appropriate to the Master's incredible
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generosity. We are not talking about a
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system of works righteousness. Saving faith is the sole
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instrument of justification, but obedience is the necessary,
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inevitable fruit of a living faith.
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Right, they go together. They have to.
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When the master honors the servant, he is crowning his own
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grace at work within that individual.
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Augustine said it best. God crowns his own gifts.
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In us, the faithful servants present.
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Obscure, often exhausting, stewardship becomes the pathway
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to greater responsibility in the coming Kingdom.
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It is a beautiful picture of grace validating faithful labor.
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So if the reward for faithfulness is that massive,
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the natural question is why wouldn't every steward just do
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the job? What breaks down in the human
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psyche to make a servant look at this arrangement and choose
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rebellion? The text forces a stark
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dichotomy, and it points to a very specific, quiet assumption
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made in the dark. We turn now to the heart of the
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hypocrite, the wicked steward. This part is chilling.
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It is the anatomy of apostasy starts in the mind.
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The text says the wicked worker says anticardioto, which means
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in his heart my master is delayed or quinasi.
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Notice that the root of the wickedness is entirely inward.
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He doesn't need to stand on a platform, gather the other
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servants, and formally deny the Second Coming with a written
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heretical creed. He simply reasons within his own
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chest that the delay grants him freedom from accountability.
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It's all internal, yeah. Hypocrisy is first and foremost
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a theology of the heart. The word Krunasai means to Terry
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to take time or to linger. The historical fact of the delay
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is not the issue. Both the faithful and the wicked
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servant experienced the exact same delay.
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The sin lies in the corrupt conclusion drawn from the delay.
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This breaks down the theology of hypocrisy brilliantly.
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We connect this to 1st John 2.1 time.
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They went out from us, but they were not really of us, for if
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they had been of us, they would have remained with us.
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Amen. We can also look at Chapter 17,
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the Westminster Confession, which deals with the
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perseverance of the Saints. The delay doesn't cause a true
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believer to lose their salvation.
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Instead, the delay unmasks a false professor who is never
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actually regenerated in the 1st place.
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This text severely refutes Arminianism, which suggests that
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a truly regenerate person can fall away and lose their
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salvation. The theological distinction here
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is paramount, holding firmly to the perseverance of the Saints.
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True believers are kept by the hand of God.
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The faithful servant remains faithful because the Holy Spirit
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sustains him. This wicked servant is not a
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Christian who lost his salvation due to a moment of weakness.
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He is a charlatan whose true unregenerate nature was finally
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exposed by time. The delay acted as a pressure
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test. Yeah, pressure test.
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He was outwardly part of the household, he had a formal
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title, he possessed delegated authority, and perhaps for the
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first few weeks he even distributed the food correctly.
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But he never possessed A regenerate heart.
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I think of it like a structural stress test in engineering.
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The delay is like a massive concrete weight placed on a
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newly built bridge. The weight doesn't create the
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cracks in the steel, it reveals the structural flaws that we're
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always hiding under the fresh coat of paint.
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Oh, that's a perfect analogy. The paint is the outward
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religious profession, the title of steward, the clerical collar,
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the seminary degree. But underneath, the structure is
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totally compromised by a love of self rather than a love of the
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Master. Scripture teaches that the
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Lord's patience is meant to lead to repentance and salvation.
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But this wicked heart interprets patience as a loophole for
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rebellion when the Master is functionally absent from the
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conscience. When a person loses the fear of
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the Lord, bad eschatology inevitably produces terrible
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ethics. We see that outward fruit of
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inward unbelief vividly in the text.
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The servant's theology deteriorates into violence and
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debauchery. He begins beating or tip teen
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his fellow workers, and he starts eating and drinking with
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drunkards. It's fascinating that his
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immediate reaction to the delay isn't just to take a nap or go
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on vacation. It is violence toward the
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vulnerable and indulgence of the flesh.
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Yeah, Why do those two specific sins always seem to pair
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together when accountability vanishes?
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Abuse and carnal indulgence always walk hand in hand because
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they both stem from the exact same route, treating oneself as
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a God. When the true God is removed
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from the immediate horizon, the human ego expands to fill the
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vacuum. He was appointed to nourish the
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household, but instead he violently strikes the lesser
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servants. Which is terrifying.
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It is the absolute hallmark of spiritual abuse.
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We see echoes of Ezekiel 34, which severely condemns the
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shepherds of Israel who fed themselves rather than the
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flock. The wicked steward uses his
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positional authority for tyranny.
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He crushes the people he was supposed to protect.
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And then he goes further by fraternizing with the drunkards.
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Right. He allies himself with the
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world. He softens toward his own
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fleshly appetites while becoming intensely harsh toward those
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under his care. He demands grace and luxury for
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himself and exacts ruthless law upon everyone else.
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It proves that what you truly believe about the Masters return
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will inevitably leak out and how you treat people.
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If you do not fear God, you will eventually abuse His sheep.
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And this secret rebellion, this reign of abuse and indulgence,
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is violently interrupted by the climax of the parable.
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We get to the sudden return and the execution of wrath.
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The master arrives on a day the wicked servant does not expect
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and at an hour he does not know. The delay, as it turns out, was
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not an absence at all. It was the necessary stage upon
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which the servants true character was fully exposed for
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righteous judgement. The wicked servant assumed that
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the master of silence meant the master was blind.
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He thought the delay meant safety.
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He confused God's forbearance with God's apathy.
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A huge mistake. The biggest mistake, The sudden
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arrival, reverses all his expectations in a single
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terrifying moment. The Greek syntax here is
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striking. It uses a third class
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conditional sentence to set up this hypothetical scenario.
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If that evil slave says in his heart.
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But the resolution is absolute, inescapable reality.
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The Master steps out of the unseen realm and brings swift,
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catastrophic justice. The language Jesus uses for this
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judgement is shocking. It is the kind of verse you
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rarely hear preached on a Sunday morning.
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He uses the Greek verb decode amissay, which literally means
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to cut in two. Liberal scholars have often
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tried to soften this verb, suggesting it just means being
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separated from the household, being fired from a job, or being
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severely scourged. But historical usage in the
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ancient Near East and Greco Roman world confirms it refers
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to a literal bloody dismemberment.
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Why use such a gruesome metaphor?
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Christ uses this terrifying metaphor because he wants to
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convey the ultimate, unmitigated severity of divine wrath against
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covenant Breakers. In the ancient Near East,
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covenant rituals often involve cutting animals in half.
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You see this in Genesis 15 with Abraham or Jeremiah 34.
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Passing through the pieces. Exactly.
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The implicit vow was May. What happens to these animals
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happen to me if I break this covenant?
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The wicked steward broke the covenantal trust.
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Therefore the Master executes the covenantal curse.
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To be cut into is to be utterly destroyed, stripped of all
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pretense and subjected to the maximum penalty of the law.
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And the final destination is just as bleak.
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The servant is assigned a place with the Hypocritan, the
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hypocrites, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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This specific phrasing is a massive theological Wrecking
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Ball. It really is.
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It completely decimates the theological concept of
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annihilationism. Annihilationism is the belief
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that the wicked simply cease to exist, that God just snuffs out
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their souls like a candle and they feel no more pain.
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But this text argues for the reality of conscious eternal
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torment. You cannot weep and gnash your
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teeth if you do not exist. The phrase weeping and gnashing
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of teeth is Jesus standard descriptor for ongoing conscious
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suffering in hell. The weeping denotes internal
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sorrow, regret, and the realization of total loss.
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The gnashing of teeth is equally significant.
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It denotes A seething, ongoing hatred and active Rage Against
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the sovereignty of God. They aren't repenting.
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No, the wicked in hell do not suddenly become repentant.
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They remain eternal rebels, grinding their teeth and fury
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against the master they still hate.
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The judgement is an eternal reality.
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Some might hear this, though, and think the punishment is
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wildly disproportionate to the crime.
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Getting drunk and slacking off at work gets you fired.
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That doesn't get you cut in pieces and thrown into eternal
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darkness. How do the sources justify the
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sheer severity of this wrath? We justify it by recognizing who
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the crime was committed against. The crime is not mere laziness
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or a minor lapse in workplace etiquette.
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This is cosmic treason against the Sovereign Lord of the
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universe. It is a complete mockery of his
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household. It is the violent abuse of his
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blood bought sheep. It's an attack on God himself.
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Right. This servant took the authority
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granted by the King of Kings, used it to brutalize the King's
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people, aligned himself with the King's enemies, and mocked the
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King's return. The severity of a crime is
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always measured by the dignity of the person against whom it is
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committed. Striking A peer might be a
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misdemeanor. Striking a king is high treason.
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The punishment fits the infinite majesty of the master who was
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insulted. If this text only offered a
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terrifying standard of perfection, A looming threat of
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being cut in two for failing to adequately feed the sheep, it
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would leave you listening in utter despair.
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None of us perfectly manage the household.
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We all have moments of selfishness, of poor
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stewardship, of spiritual lethargy.
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If the passage stops here, it's just a crushing weight of
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moralism. But the theological framework
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doesn't leave us there. We pivot now to the
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Christological rescue. This passage, like all of
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Scripture, points directly to Jesus.
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It absolutely has to, or else we're left with nothing but
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condemnation. If we read this text as simply a
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moralistic command to try harder to be a good servant, it will
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destroy the honest listener and inflate the proud hypocritical.
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1 The law within this passage exposes our inherent failures,
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our laziness, our harshness, our secret presumptions that God
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isn't watching. But the Gospel announces that
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Christ himself is the ultimate fulfillment of the faithful
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Doulos. That is a stunning connection to
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make. When we look at Philippians 2.7
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we see that while Jesus existed in the form of God, he emptied
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himself taking the form of a bond slave, a doulos.
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Where Adam failed as a steward in the Garden of Eden, taking
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the fruit rather than guarding the sanctuary, and where the
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Pharisees failed as the shepherds of Israel, devouring
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widows houses instead of feeding the flock, Jesus perfectly
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obeyed. The contrast is magnificent.
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Jesus declares in John 4.34 that His food is to do the will of
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him who sent Him and to accomplish His work.
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His obedience was never partial, never interrupted by a desire
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for self indulgence, and never hypocritical.
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He perfectly managed the household of God.
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He gave his people the true bread of life, giving His own
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flesh for the life of the world. He didn't just feed the sheep,
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he became the food. Yes, he assessed the desperate
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spiritual need of humanity and provided the exact nourishment
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required. He was faithful over God's house
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as the true Son, operating as the perfect servant.
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And it goes even deeper than His perfect active obedience.
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When we examine Isaiah 53.8, we see how Christ took the violent
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punishment upon himself. The prophet says He was cut off
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out of the land of the living for the transgression of His
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people. The wrath meant for the wicked
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steward, the punishment of being cut in two, of facing the
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weeping and gnashing of teeth, fell entirely upon the perfect
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steward at the cross. This beautifully brings in
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Christ's threefold office as prophet, priest and king.
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As prophet, he speaks the truth about the future and exposes the
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hidden hypocrisy of the human heart through parables like this
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one. As king, he appoints the
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stewards, governs the household, demands absolute allegiance and
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will return to execute justice. But crucially, as priest, he
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provides the atoning sacrifice needed by unfaithful servants.
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He pays the penalty. He intercedes for his people
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when they stumble. He offers his own blood to
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satisfy the wrath of the king. We are essentially looking at a
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legal summons that condemns our massive failure as stewards, but
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written on the back of it is the pardon bought by the only truly
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faithful steward. That is the glorious doctrine of
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imputation. The Christian faith relies
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entirely on a double imputation. Our sin, our wicked stewardship,
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was imputed or credited to Christ on the cross, and he paid
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the penalty for it in exchange. Christ's perfect righteousness,
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as flawless record as the faithful doulos, is imputed to
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the believers account. We are accepted by the Father
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only because we are clothed in the perfect obedience of the
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Son. That changes everything.
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It really does. When you grasp that theological
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reality, the motivation for your daily action shifts entirely.
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It moves from a paralyzing, sweat inducing terror of
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judgement to an overwhelming, joyful gratitude.
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You feed the sheep, not to earn the Masters love or avoid his
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wrath, but because you were astounded that he entrusted his
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precious sheep to you despite your known flaws.
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This brings the 1st century warning squarely into the modern
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church landscape. We need to apply these warnings
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to today's leaders and laity because human nature hasn't
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changed since the 1st century. We see the exact same tendencies
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in modern evangelical trends. Our sources target these trends,
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specifically rebuking seeker sensitive models, emotional
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manipulation, and the prosperity gospel as modern examples of
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starving the sheep. The critique here is sharp and
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necessary. The seeker sensitive movement
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often replaces the systematic, rigorous exposition of Scripture
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with theatrical entertainment, light moralism, or psychological
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self help. It attempts to make the
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unregenerate world comfortable in the household of God.
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Prosperity preaching is even worse.
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It feeds human greed rather than godliness, promising earthly
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treasures while ignoring the cross by withholding the pure,
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unadulterated meat of the Word. These approaches starve the
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household. They're giving them junk.
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Food. Worse than junk food.
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It's poison. The wicked steward beats the
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sheep, and today that can look like manipulating A congregation
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with rob emotionalism, using guilt to drive fundraising, or
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ruling a church like a personal corporate empire rather than a
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frock to be gently shepherded. We see the fall out of this
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constantly. Statistics from the Barney Group
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regarding massive pastoral burnout and moral
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disqualification point to a massive crisis in leadership.
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This crisis results directly from the loss of holy fear.
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Yes, a loss of the imminent expectation of the master's
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return. When a pastor stops believing
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Jesus could return today, he starts building his own Kingdom.
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And there are specific theological applications here as
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well. For cessationists who reject new
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mystical revelations, the application is to rely solely on
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the closed Canon of Scripture to feed the sheep rather than
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chasing modern prophecies. For complimentarians, the text
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calls for qualified men to step courageously into the pulpit and
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guard the truth against cultural compromise.
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Right standing firm on the truth provided in the pantry.
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Now I need to pause here and mention something vital from our
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texts. Our source material calls out
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critical race theory and woke theology as modern examples of
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secular philosophies mingling with the Church.
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To be clear to you listening, we are impartially reporting the
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contents of these theological documents.
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We are not endorsing or taking any sides on these political or
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sociological frameworks, but simply conveying how the
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original author views them in the context of this biblical
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passage. Understood.
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Returning to the broader point, the application of stewardship
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extends far beyond the pulpit. This isn't just for pastors.
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No, the pulpit is just the most visible application, but this
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text speaks with equal force to everyday believers.
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Parents are stewards called by God to feed their children with
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biblical truth, loving discipline and deep affection.
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Workers are stewards called to act with absolute integrity in
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their secular vocations. A daily grind.
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Yeah, the daily grind. The world measures greatness by
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public visibility, follower counts, and massive platforms.
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But Christ measures faithfulness by hidden obedience.
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A mother patiently teaching Scripture to her toddlers at the
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kitchen table or an employee resisting the urge to fudge
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numbers on a corporate report are both standing directly under
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the eye of the returning master. Their obscure faithfulness is
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seen and will be rewarded. The world often mocks this
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eschatological hope, though they look at Christians waiting for a
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return and find it absurd. In Second Peter 3, the apostle
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addresses the scoffers who ask where is the promise of his
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coming? For ever since the Father's fell
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asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of
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creation. The scoffers look at the
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unbroken continuity of history, the centuries turning over 1
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after another, and they assume the Master is never returning.
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They read the silence of the sky as the absence of God, but the
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true believer laborers on in obscurity.
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They know the master is watching the Ledger.
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The delay is a feature, not a bug.
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Exactly. The delay is not a sign of his
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absence or his impotence. It is the deliberate space given
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for faithful mission. It is the time allocated for the
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gospel to go to the nation's. As we synthesize everything we
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have covered today, we are left with an absolute dichotomy.
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The text presents 2 destinies, 2 hearts, and one returning Lord.
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There is no middle ground, no third option.
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You are either the faithful steward, laboring by grace,
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providing nourishment and eagerly anticipated the King, or
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you are the wicked hypocrite harboring secret sin, abusing
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your authority and facing sudden catastrophic wrath.
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The lines are drawn with staggering clarity.
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True readiness is entirely active.
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It is found in continuing the assigned duty, anchored firmly
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in the imputed righteousness of Christ.
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Hypocrisy is a deadly inward condition that assumes delay
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equates to permanent immunity. I want to leave you with a final
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concept to ponder as you reflect on this text.
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What if the masters delay isn't a test of your endurance, but an
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act of profound mercy? Every day the sky doesn't split
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is another day given for the household to be fed, another
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stray sheep to be found, and another day for the hypocrite to
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repent before the door shuts forever.
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That reframes the entire perspective on the wait.
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The time is not a burden, it is a gift.
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So the next time you feel like you are sitting in that waiting
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room looking at a blank departures board, remember that
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the Master is not late. He is watching, He is merciful,
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and He is coming. Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive into reformed thinking.
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Keep your lamps lit and we will see you next time.