Well done good and faithful servant - Part 1
His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’ – Matt. 25:21
Words that we ALL want to hear, not so?
Context:
Jesus is discussing the types of people who make up the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 25:1-44. His three parables give us clear direction about what our heart attitudes should be.
- People who are faithful to Him, who are ready and waiting for His coming.
- People who have used the talents that He has given them.
- People who have loved others by ministering to them in their time of need.
These attitudes reveal how we are living out His Two Commandments.
Our corresponding actions will lead to rewards or losses.
Throughout the bible, we are receiving instruction and correction to assist us in understanding who we were created to be, (being the image bearer of God). We have learned to understand that the extreme price that was paid was… SO THAT… the image bearer of God could be the reality of our life. Right?
Not only that, we have been given the wonderful Holy Spirit to teach us, give us revelation BUT ALSO to empower us where we surrender to change…
Grace, Grace and more Grace.
We are currently in the dispensation of grace – the Church Age. Yet this dispensation will come to an end. Right now as believers we are waiting for the Rapture of the Church. We know that it is coming but we don’t know when. Jesus warns many times through the scriptures to “Watch and pray, for you do not know when that time is.”
The warning is important because a constant awareness that the Lord could return at any time keeps us on our toes and spiritually alert, living productively for the kingdom of God. When there is an expectation of something about to happen, you are inclined to check that everything is in place, that all is ready… Amen?
Luke 21:36 – Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Jesus is talking here about escaping ‘the hour of trial’ that is coming upon the earth.
Rev.3:10 – Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
The hour of trial is coming – the Tribulation and He does not want us to be there so He warns us… and He warns us… and He warns us. Grace, Grace and more Grace.
Whether we believe it is in 500 years from now or that we are living in the last days before Christ’s return… the only time you and I have is NOW to prepare to be a part of the bride of Christ.
If He comes now, I want to be ready. If He comes long after I have died, I want to die… ready.
Let us live… as if it is at the door!
What are the requirements for escaping? For being counted worthy to escape these things?
Let us be clear, every believer already has eternal life. When you believed, you were translated from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You were given the righteousness of God.
Jesus is our righteousness, the reason we can approach the throne of grace. Paul says about Israel in Rom.10:1-4 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law to everyone who believes.”
It is not about your works getting you into heaven. It’s about love… does love, real love fuel your behaviour? It’s about heart attitude. Study the seven churches of Revelations, it will give you a lot of heart attitudes to check in your own life.
Are you living out His new commandments?
Allow the Holy Spirit to bring correction where it is needed and then obey that instruction.
Remember this…remember this ALWAYS!
1 Cor. 2:10-12 – But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, (why?) that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
The Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God and He will empower us (this is God’s grace to us) to fulfil the instruction ONCE we surrender because we have a desire to obey God. This is the Word of His power in action.
1 Pet. 1:22-23 – Since you have purified your souls (how?) in obeying the truth (how?) through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, (how?) through the word of God which lives forever and ever.
John 1:16 – And of His fullness we have all received, AND grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Although Jesus is the Word, He came as the Son of Man, so that He could show us the way to live a Spirit led life. Through that Spirit led life, He was the image of God. He revealed God and all His attributes. Now by the same Spirt, the wonderful Holy Spirit, you and I can live our lives just as Christ did.
John 14:16-17 – And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him, nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 16:13 – However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will show you things to come.
John 4:23 – But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
This is not really about singing and playing instruments or dancing before the Lord. These are all expressions of our worship…BUT…it is our lifestyle, the way we conduct our lives, our heart attitudes that reveal the worship God is longing to receive.