BEWARE OF CARELESSNESS

Luke 12:35-38

"Let your loins be girded bout an your lights burning;

-And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

-Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

-And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants."

Jesus shifted the emphasis from being worried about the present to being watchful about the future.

Jewish weddings were held at night, and the bridegroom's servants would have to wait for their master to come home with his bride. The new husband would certainly not want to be kept waiting at the door with his bride! but the servants had to e sure they were ready to go to work, with their robs tucked under their girdles, so they were free to move. ( I Pet. 1:13 )

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;."

But the remarkable thing in this story is that the master serves the servants! In Jewish weddings, the bride was treated like a queen and the groom like a king, so you would not expect the king" to minister to his staff. However, our King will minister to His faithful servants when He greets us at His return, and He will reward us for our faithfulness.

To "watch" means to be alert, ready, not to be caught but to be surprised. That is the attitude we must have toward the second coming of Jesus Christ. His arrival will be like that of a thief: unannounced and unexpected ( Matt. 24:43; I Thess 5:2; Rev. 16:15 ). We must be ready.

Matt. 24:43

"But know this, that the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up."

I Thess. 5:2

"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."

Rev. 16:15

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."

Stay alert and ready for the return of the Lord because we see, He is soon to return for His church! Be Blessed, and KEEP THE FAITH!!

Love

Bishop T. W. Jackson I, ThM