26
REWARDS FOR PERSEVERANCE Let your loins be girded about, and 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 I 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 (Luke 12:35-38).
This is not a well-known passage. It contains one of the most remarkable promises in the Bible. "Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them" (Luke 12:37). The Master will serve the servants.
The context is the final judgment. The text refers to a wedding. This is the marriage supper of the lamb (Rev. 19:7-9). God's people are assigned the task of administering God's estate until He returns. He returns at the time of the consummation, as a bridegroom should. When He does, He will serve those servants who remained faithful to the end of their term of service.
Staying on the Job Jesus praised those servants who will be found working diligently at His return. The later at night He comes, the more blessed will be these servants. These servants will not have given up hope of the master's return. They will not have forgotten the promise of His return. They will have continued to do their duty until the very end.
When the Master returns from the wedding, He will serve these servants. This is a reversal of roles. Elsewhere, Jesus described the servant as not deserving to be eat dinner until after the master has eaten. "But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow [think] not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do" (Luke 17:7-10).(1)
Why will the Master serve the faithful servants? Because of His grace to them. They will have performed well, due to His grace in their lives. Jesus Christ served God the Father well. "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:21-22). The Father rewarded Jesus with an inheritance after the resurrection: all power in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18). At the marriage supper of the lamb, which follows the wedding (final judgment), Jesus will specially honor all those who were on duty at the end. This is a strong motivation for every Christian in every generation to remain on duty until he is lawfully relieved either by death or the return of the Bridegroom.
At the last supper, Jesus washed the disciples' feet (John 13:5). This was a token of His office as the suffering servant. But on the day of judgment, He will no longer be a suffering servant. He will be a visibly triumphant king. Yet He will specially serve His followers who were found on the job at His return.
The text does not speak of the host of saints. It speaks only of those on duty on the last day. They will be singled out for special consideration. The last will be first. But all of the saints will be served by Jesus in the final resurrection, which is the wedding. Without exception, they will enter the perfected New Heaven and New Earth through grace. Jesus has already served His people on the cross and again at the first resurrection. After the resurrection, He fed His disciples some broiled fish (John 21:13). The meal that will be served by Him to His servants after the marriage supper of the lamb will be an extension of His service to them.
Rewards for Faithful Service The idea that a good deed must never be self-seeking is not biblical.(2) Jesus taught here that there will be rewards for those who remain faithful to Him until the end. If Jesus says that He will personally serve a meal to faithful servants, why should we imagine that rewards for good service are not legitimate?
By promising a meal, Jesus was encouraging His people to remain on the job until either they die or He returns in final judgment. He offered a unique reward: to be served by God. The very creator of the universe(3) will in effect wait on tables. He will assume the role of a servant.
This reward will consummate history. It will be a token of good things to come forever and ever. It will be a representative meal, even as the Lord's Supper is a representative meal. The grace implied by the Lord's Supper will be extended visibly and eternally. The marriage supper of the lamb will be the great transition event into the sinless new creation. His people will rejoice because they, as members of His church, will become the visible objects of Christ's love. The joy of mutual service in marriage is the model for our service to Christ in history. We serve because we look forward to the consummation of Christ's kingdom in history. When the entire church moves into eternity, the days of expectation will end. Great joy will come. The rewards will be handed out (I Cor. 3:9-15).
These rewards are not exclusively eternal, nor are they exclusively spiritual-emotional. "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life" (Mark 10:29-30). A man's new life in Christ becomes the entry point in history for participating in the confessional family of God. He enters into new relationships with new brethren. Mutual love and mutual support are rewards in history.
These rewards are tokens of eternity. In eternity, there will be great rewards for those who remain faithful to God. Christ kept promising these rewards. Then He called His listeners to sacrificial obedience: give to the poor, support the brethren, pray for enemies. These are costly actions for redeemed sinners in history. They require faith. But there is no doubt that Jesus promised rewards for such actions. He did not expect His people to practice sacrificial service without hope of reward.
Conclusion An oppressed servant may hope for a future reversal of roles. He may dream of being the master, with his present master struggling to be his servant. This dream would appeal to the sinful impulse of revenge. This is not the impulse that is to govern covenant-keepers.
Jesus promised something very different: loving service for loving service. He called His people to sacrificial love. He Himself is the model for such love. The disciples did not fully understand this until after Christ's ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2). His sacrificial service laid the judicial foundation for His people's sacrificial service. Jesus promised to consummate the kingdom in history by becoming a servant at His own marriage supper with His church. The sacrificial service that He began in His miracles of healing will end history at the wedding feast, which follows the wedding: final judgment.
His model of sacrificial service to His servants is to be our model for service to others in history. "And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). He became the servant of all, as He demonstrated on the cross. His reward from God the Father was great: He became first. "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18). He provided the model. We should follow it by means of His grace.
Footnotes:
1. Chapter 40, below.
2. John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books, 1996).
3. "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Col. 1:13-17).
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