As servants of Christ, in His Kingdom (or house), we are each given assigned jobs to do until He returns and takes us back with Him. In Mark 13:33-37, Jesus insisted, “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task (responsibilities, assigned jobs), and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
:34 = Every servant has an assigned task, or job
:36 = Don’t let him find you sleeping
:37 = “What I say to you guys, I say to everybody.”
Anti-Idleness in Faith
This supports my argument to people who are idle in their faith. As I’ve mentioned many times before, many think they can simply accept Jesus’ salvation, then go on about their business as they did before. What they don’t realize (or accept) is that when we accept Jesus, our ownership has been transferred — we’re no longer servants of Satan, thus sinning, but servants of Christ. And as servants of Christ, in His Kingdom (or house), we are each given an assigned job to do until He returns and takes us back with Him. The parable about the lazy servant fits in with this also because each were given a task, but instead of serving, the one servant decided not to do anything, and so was cursed and thrown out when his master returned…he didn’t even lift his finger to attempt to work/serve. Or in this case, he was found “sleeping”.
Assigned Jobs on a Ship
I once had a disagreement with an ELCA Pastor in Nevada about grace. He believed that everybody’s treading water, then Jesus comes by in a boat and lifts us in (assuming we should grab onto His hand). The problem was that the Pastor claimed that now you don’t need to do anything, because now you’re “in the boat” (thus promoting Cheap Grace and Idleness). But here, Jesus says that every servant has a task that was assigned to them (an assigned job).
If you’ve ever been in the Navy, or a shipmate, then you know that there are many hands that are needed on a ship — a whole crew, and nobody is ‘just a passenger’. So if the Admiral was to return and see that some of his hands were idle, what do you suppose he would do with them? In the same way, Christians are not to be idle. We each have “assigned jobs” (spiritual gifts and natural talents given to us in order to use in service of our Master’s home) until He returns.
Reflection:
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that every Christian has a (or some) spiritual gift(s).
- What Spiritual gifts have you obtained since accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
- What are some of your naturally-born talents (things you’re just good at and can’t explain why, etc.)
- Looking now at both your spiritual gifts and talents
- What are some ways you can think of that you might be able to use them for God’s Kingdom and glory?
- How have you been using them so far?
- Is there anything you can do more (or better) with your gifts and talents?
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