"Fred Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of consecration. "To give my life for Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others. . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom -- I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. "We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking $l,000 bill and laying it on the table-- 'Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all.' But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $l,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid's troubles instead of saying, 'Get lost.' Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at at time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul." -Darryl Bell.
Today we’re talking about the topic of faithfulness.
Every believer has a faith in God. You lean on God. You trust in God’s son Jesus Christ, that he really died for your sins. You trust that God will guide you through each day. You believe in Him and trust in Him.
As you should.
Because God himself is faithful. He is faithful to himself. He is faithful to his promises to us.
The scriptures say, Lamentations 3:22-23, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness"
Very simply, God can be trusted. We know it in our mind. But do we know it in our heart? God really is trustworthy.
God really does love you. It said it in Lamentations, that his love is steady, constant, it never ceases being poured out to you.
His mercies each day, they never come to an end. They continue on into eternity.
We’re looking at a challenging parable from the life of Jesus. So its super important that we understand all of this is couched in God’s incredible love for you.
It flows freely each day. But we have to tune ourselves to receive it. It’s being poured out, but we have to make sure our bucket is under the waterfall to receive it.
Many of us have been Christians for years. And we’ve gone forward into deeper things. But let the intro today be a reminder to do something Jesus said to the early church: Return to your first love.
Jesus has been repeating that to me a lot. You’ve gotten so deep into the different facets of the faith, return to the simple love you had when you first got saved.
The love of God everyday, all the time.
Now that we understand God’s faithful love for us that never ceases and is always flowing, we can talk about our response today, which is to be faithful in response to God’s faithfulness.
He’s training us saints. He’s getting us ready for heaven.
You can open in your Bibles to Luke chapter 12 in verse 35, it says this: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.”
Jesus is comparing the faithfulness of Christians to that of a servant who works with a wealthy man. The wealthy man is away at a banquet, but the servant is waiting carefully for his master’s return.
Be dressed and ready for service.
Every day I pray a prayer in the morning called the armor of God, it’s from Ephesians 6. Each day, I want to be dressed and ready for service.
The scriptures say, Lamentations 3:22-23, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness"
Very simply, God can be trusted. We know it in our mind. But do we know it in our heart? God really is trustworthy.
God really does love you. It said it in Lamentations, that his love is steady, constant, it never ceases being poured out to you.
His mercies each day, they never come to an end. They continue on into eternity.
We’re looking at a challenging parable from the life of Jesus. So its super important that we understand all of this is couched in God’s incredible love for you.
It flows freely each day. But we have to tune ourselves to receive it. It’s being poured out, but we have to make sure our bucket is under the waterfall to receive it.
Many of us have been Christians for years. And we’ve gone forward into deeper things. But let the intro today be a reminder to do something Jesus said to the early church: Return to your first love.
Jesus has been repeating that to me a lot. You’ve gotten so deep into the different facets of the faith, return to the simple love you had when you first got saved.
The love of God everyday, all the time.
Now that we understand God’s faithful love for us that never ceases and is always flowing, we can talk about our response today, which is to be faithful in response to God’s faithfulness.
He’s training us saints. He’s getting us ready for heaven.
You can open in your Bibles to Luke chapter 12 in verse 35, it says this: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.”
Jesus is comparing the faithfulness of Christians to that of a servant who works with a wealthy man. The wealthy man is away at a banquet, but the servant is waiting carefully for his master’s return.
Be dressed and ready for service.
Every day I pray a prayer in the morning called the armor of God, it’s from Ephesians 6. Each day, I want to be dressed and ready for service.
To have faith is to love Jesus with all my heart.
To be faithful, or exemplify faithfulness, is to take that heart faith and put it into action.
I also want to keep my lamp burning. What does that mean? It means my faith doesn’t just grow on it’s own.
God feeds my faith through worship, prayer, bible reading, and service to others. Are you letting God feed your flame, to make it brighter?
Guard your flame, feed it, or it may go out.
Next, verses 37-38: "It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.”
The master, which is Jesus, underlines this important truth: Be watchful in your faithfulness. As you serve God, be cautiously watching for the return of the Master.
Then we get this amazing picture of Jesus returning, and it’s astonishing what he says here.
The master, which is Jesus, will dress himself to serve, and will have you, the servant, the Christian, recline at the table, and Jesus will come and wait on you. Wow!
Many believe this refers to the marriage supper of the lamb, at the second coming of Jesus, where we will celebrate with Jesus, having overcome the world (through faith in Christ).
The master will dress himself to serve the servant at table. That would be unthinkable in the ancient world, for the master to serve his servants. Yet we see it right here.
Next, we get a warning from Jesus. Verses 39-40, “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
The Lord knows that our tendency as humans is to become complacent. We start to rest on past victories. We start to drift away from church. We begin witnessing less and less. Pretty soon we’re watching TV more than praying or reading the word.
Jesus gives us an example of a man who has a house. No one knows when someone might try to break into their house. At first the man is doing well, keeping it locked, watching the cameras, but after a while he gets lazy, leaves the door open, cracks the window and forgets to lock it later, forgets to replace the batteries in the cameras, and sure enough, a thief breaks in.
Jesus is saying we must be ready at all times. Many Christians I’ve known, they start well, but they begin to lose focus and they drift after a time. So many people would join the last church I pastored, and they would do well for a year or two, they focused in on God, bible study, prayer, serving others, volunteering, but after a year or two they would begin to drift, get bored with it, and eventually fade off. Don’t let that be you friends.
We talked last week about commitment. Make sure your commitment to Christ is strong. And you’ve counted the cost. Stay excited about your faith. Let the love of God and the fear of the Lord motivate you daily.
Alright, so far we’ve seen God is faithful. We as humans have faith in God. Now, we’re learning to walk out our faith in faithfulness. Faithfulness is being a good steward of what God has entrusted to us.
To one who is given something from God they must show themselves faithful (1 Cor 4:2). One simple word: Faithfulness. Yet it’s implications are so vast. We’ve all been entrusted by God with certain things: Property, friendships, family, children, lost souls who need Jesus, and much more.
The servant who is waiting, dressed for service, and keeping their lamp burning, they are the faithful servant Jesus points to in the parable.
Now, we’ll see the topic adjusted as Jesus begins to explain what this means for leaders in ministry.
In Luke 12:41-44 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.” 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”
Jesus is talking about shepherds and leaders in ministry here. He compares them to a manager of his household, who he has put in charge of his servants to give them food. The word of God is food to us, don’t you see.
Jesus says similarly, just like a Christian, a Christian leader should also be watchful for when the master returns.
The reward Jesus offers is to put them in charge of all his possessions. Isn’t that beautiful?
Yet we ministry leaders also get a warning in verses 45-46, “But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 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. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”
This leader begins to get drunk, he’s cruel to the people under his or her leadership, and it says the master will come unexpectedly to him, and cut him to pieces and assign him a place in hell.
We see the stakes are very high.
It finishes in verses 47-48, “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
These verses are talking about degrees of punishment in hell. If someone has heard the gospel many times, they’ve known of God and the word, and yet they backslid, their punishment in hell will be severe.
But suppose someone didn’t have such opportunities, yet they still sinned against God, their punishment will be less severe in hell.
And the last line is very telling as well, you as a Christian have been entrusted with certain things in your life, so you must show yourself faithful with the things God has entrusted to you, whether your family, friendships, people in your community, your skills, and your resources. It says if you’ve been given much, much more will be demanded of you.
If you’ve been given little, not as much will be demanded of you.
Similarly, a pastor or church leader whose been entrusted with many lives and resources, they will also be asked more of, to show themselves faithful with what God gave them.
You might be feeling like how can I be faithful with all that God has given me?
Remember the scripture from Lamentations, his love is what feeds us everyday. Great is His faithfulness. Jesus loves us dearly and the love of God is poured into our hearts each day. That’s why we can be faithful.
To be faithful, or exemplify faithfulness, is to take that heart faith and put it into action.
I also want to keep my lamp burning. What does that mean? It means my faith doesn’t just grow on it’s own.
God feeds my faith through worship, prayer, bible reading, and service to others. Are you letting God feed your flame, to make it brighter?
Guard your flame, feed it, or it may go out.
Next, verses 37-38: "It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.”
The master, which is Jesus, underlines this important truth: Be watchful in your faithfulness. As you serve God, be cautiously watching for the return of the Master.
Then we get this amazing picture of Jesus returning, and it’s astonishing what he says here.
The master, which is Jesus, will dress himself to serve, and will have you, the servant, the Christian, recline at the table, and Jesus will come and wait on you. Wow!
Many believe this refers to the marriage supper of the lamb, at the second coming of Jesus, where we will celebrate with Jesus, having overcome the world (through faith in Christ).
The master will dress himself to serve the servant at table. That would be unthinkable in the ancient world, for the master to serve his servants. Yet we see it right here.
Next, we get a warning from Jesus. Verses 39-40, “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
The Lord knows that our tendency as humans is to become complacent. We start to rest on past victories. We start to drift away from church. We begin witnessing less and less. Pretty soon we’re watching TV more than praying or reading the word.
Jesus gives us an example of a man who has a house. No one knows when someone might try to break into their house. At first the man is doing well, keeping it locked, watching the cameras, but after a while he gets lazy, leaves the door open, cracks the window and forgets to lock it later, forgets to replace the batteries in the cameras, and sure enough, a thief breaks in.
Jesus is saying we must be ready at all times. Many Christians I’ve known, they start well, but they begin to lose focus and they drift after a time. So many people would join the last church I pastored, and they would do well for a year or two, they focused in on God, bible study, prayer, serving others, volunteering, but after a year or two they would begin to drift, get bored with it, and eventually fade off. Don’t let that be you friends.
We talked last week about commitment. Make sure your commitment to Christ is strong. And you’ve counted the cost. Stay excited about your faith. Let the love of God and the fear of the Lord motivate you daily.
Alright, so far we’ve seen God is faithful. We as humans have faith in God. Now, we’re learning to walk out our faith in faithfulness. Faithfulness is being a good steward of what God has entrusted to us.
To one who is given something from God they must show themselves faithful (1 Cor 4:2). One simple word: Faithfulness. Yet it’s implications are so vast. We’ve all been entrusted by God with certain things: Property, friendships, family, children, lost souls who need Jesus, and much more.
The servant who is waiting, dressed for service, and keeping their lamp burning, they are the faithful servant Jesus points to in the parable.
Now, we’ll see the topic adjusted as Jesus begins to explain what this means for leaders in ministry.
In Luke 12:41-44 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.” 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”
Jesus is talking about shepherds and leaders in ministry here. He compares them to a manager of his household, who he has put in charge of his servants to give them food. The word of God is food to us, don’t you see.
Jesus says similarly, just like a Christian, a Christian leader should also be watchful for when the master returns.
The reward Jesus offers is to put them in charge of all his possessions. Isn’t that beautiful?
Yet we ministry leaders also get a warning in verses 45-46, “But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 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. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”
This leader begins to get drunk, he’s cruel to the people under his or her leadership, and it says the master will come unexpectedly to him, and cut him to pieces and assign him a place in hell.
We see the stakes are very high.
It finishes in verses 47-48, “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
These verses are talking about degrees of punishment in hell. If someone has heard the gospel many times, they’ve known of God and the word, and yet they backslid, their punishment in hell will be severe.
But suppose someone didn’t have such opportunities, yet they still sinned against God, their punishment will be less severe in hell.
And the last line is very telling as well, you as a Christian have been entrusted with certain things in your life, so you must show yourself faithful with the things God has entrusted to you, whether your family, friendships, people in your community, your skills, and your resources. It says if you’ve been given much, much more will be demanded of you.
If you’ve been given little, not as much will be demanded of you.
Similarly, a pastor or church leader whose been entrusted with many lives and resources, they will also be asked more of, to show themselves faithful with what God gave them.
You might be feeling like how can I be faithful with all that God has given me?
Remember the scripture from Lamentations, his love is what feeds us everyday. Great is His faithfulness. Jesus loves us dearly and the love of God is poured into our hearts each day. That’s why we can be faithful.
We have a Triune God with us everyday. The Father orchestrates the plan of our lives. He weaves the strands together.

Jesus Christ walks beside us on the road of life each day, encouraging us and washing away our sins.
Not only that, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, changing us from within into the person we were always meant to be.
With the love of the Father, the love of Jesus, and the love of the Holy Spirit, how can we fail?
So in conclusion today, we should ask ourselves, how can we fulfill these mandates? The Kingdom of God system is all about actions that flow from beliefs.
The faithful Christian is watching carefully the times they live in and observing the world and the church. And they are praying along those lines.
They are also dressed for service. The faithful Christian has a strong belief in Jesus Christ, a faith that they feed with truth, prayer, and fellowship.
The faithful Christian keeps their lamp burning. Jesus has lit the light within our hearts. Indeed, the disciples hearts burned within them as they spoke to Jesus on the Emmaus road. But we’re told to shepherd that flame, keep it burning, keep it fueled, so we can walk the road of faithfulness, continuously burning brightly with the faithful love of God within.
“The tendency of fire is to go out; watch the fire on the altar of your heart. Anyone who has tended a fireplace fire knows that it needs to be stirred up occasionally.” -William Booth.
Jesus Christ walks beside us on the road of life each day, encouraging us and washing away our sins.
Not only that, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, changing us from within into the person we were always meant to be.
With the love of the Father, the love of Jesus, and the love of the Holy Spirit, how can we fail?
So in conclusion today, we should ask ourselves, how can we fulfill these mandates? The Kingdom of God system is all about actions that flow from beliefs.
The faithful Christian is watching carefully the times they live in and observing the world and the church. And they are praying along those lines.
They are also dressed for service. The faithful Christian has a strong belief in Jesus Christ, a faith that they feed with truth, prayer, and fellowship.
The faithful Christian keeps their lamp burning. Jesus has lit the light within our hearts. Indeed, the disciples hearts burned within them as they spoke to Jesus on the Emmaus road. But we’re told to shepherd that flame, keep it burning, keep it fueled, so we can walk the road of faithfulness, continuously burning brightly with the faithful love of God within.
“The tendency of fire is to go out; watch the fire on the altar of your heart. Anyone who has tended a fireplace fire knows that it needs to be stirred up occasionally.” -William Booth.
The tendency of the fire of our hearts is to go out. So we should feed the flame consistently, to keep it burning brightly. Encountering God is what feeds the flame of our heart.
Will you show yourself faithful? The believer has been given much, and they must steward it faithfully.
Jesus makes no apologies about the consequences of disobedience and unfaithfulness. The servant who shows himself unfaithful will be assigned a place with the unbelievers. The punishment level assigned is based on how aware the servant was of the master’s will. If they were unaware, their punishment is less, if they were well aware, their punishment is more severe.
Those who are given much, must show themselves faithful. Those who are entrusted much, also must show themselves faithful.
We also see the tenderness and kindness of Jesus in this parable. He says that the servant he finds at work and clothed, he will, as the Master, dress himself to serve, and serve that person at the table. What a humble and loving Master we serve!
For the one entrusted with ministry, in the example given to Peter and the disciples, if they are found faithful, they are given authority over all the Master owns. What a generous gift from the Master!
The Blessing: The blessing is that Jesus serves the faithful servant and gives authority to the one who has shown themselves faithful.
The Challenge: The challenge is the threat of Jesus to those who would show themselves unfaithful, they are condemned.
Next Steps:
How do we live out this parable?
A. A faithful servant shows himself faithful by keeping his lamp burning through seeking encounters with the Living God
B. A faithful servant shows himself faithful by watching and waiting for the return of the Master, diligently watching the times and seasons they live in.
C. A faithful servant stays active in their faith walk, engaging in prayer, fellowship and study of the word
Discussion Questions:
1. What have you been given in life? Or what has been entrusted to you?
2. Share a time you showed yourself a faithful steward.
3. Share a time when you showed yourself unfaithful in some way.
4. Why does Jesus give the warning about unfaithfulness?
5. Why does Jesus give the encouragement about faithfulness?
Will you show yourself faithful? The believer has been given much, and they must steward it faithfully.
Jesus makes no apologies about the consequences of disobedience and unfaithfulness. The servant who shows himself unfaithful will be assigned a place with the unbelievers. The punishment level assigned is based on how aware the servant was of the master’s will. If they were unaware, their punishment is less, if they were well aware, their punishment is more severe.
Those who are given much, must show themselves faithful. Those who are entrusted much, also must show themselves faithful.
We also see the tenderness and kindness of Jesus in this parable. He says that the servant he finds at work and clothed, he will, as the Master, dress himself to serve, and serve that person at the table. What a humble and loving Master we serve!
For the one entrusted with ministry, in the example given to Peter and the disciples, if they are found faithful, they are given authority over all the Master owns. What a generous gift from the Master!
The Blessing: The blessing is that Jesus serves the faithful servant and gives authority to the one who has shown themselves faithful.
The Challenge: The challenge is the threat of Jesus to those who would show themselves unfaithful, they are condemned.
Next Steps:
How do we live out this parable?
A. A faithful servant shows himself faithful by keeping his lamp burning through seeking encounters with the Living God
B. A faithful servant shows himself faithful by watching and waiting for the return of the Master, diligently watching the times and seasons they live in.
C. A faithful servant stays active in their faith walk, engaging in prayer, fellowship and study of the word
Discussion Questions:
1. What have you been given in life? Or what has been entrusted to you?
2. Share a time you showed yourself a faithful steward.
3. Share a time when you showed yourself unfaithful in some way.
4. Why does Jesus give the warning about unfaithfulness?
5. Why does Jesus give the encouragement about faithfulness?