Pastor Scott Andrews | December 7, 2025
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Luke 12:35-48 (Part 2)
Most of us know what 9/11 is – after all, many of us were alive on that day when Islamic terrorists flew commercial jet liners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also intended to hit the White House, but the passengers aboard flight 93 prevented that from happening. On that day, when the US was attacked, almost 3,000 people were killed. Of course, that launched us into the war on terror. But the fact is, we were unprepared – and it changed air travel ever since, and we appropriately remember September 11 each year.
But there is another day we used to remember; but it has largely been forgotten. It is today, December 7, Pearl Harbor Day. It also used to be an annual remembrance, but it was 84 years ago, most of us weren’t alive then. But, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, December 7, 1941, is a day that will go down in infamy. Of course, on that day, the Japanese Imperial Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor – and 2,400 people lost their lives – largely US soldiers, almost 1,200 of those on the USS Arizona, a battleship which was sunk in the harbor. But the fact is, we were unprepared, and it launched us into World War 2.
These days of remembrance encourage us to be prepared. Last week, we began a two-week look at some parables in which Jesus wants us to be prepared for the His coming. But, unlike 9/11 and December 7, His coming will be to make all things right. And if our understanding of future events is correct, Jesus will return at an unexpected time when most are unprepared and it, too, will launch us into a great battle. We read these words in Revelation 19:
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” [He is Jesus, you see, and this is the way He will come – to judge.]
19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
You can go on in the chapter to read that they will lose, of course. But my concern is – regardless of how end times events unfold – you decide, hopefully on biblical grounds things like timing of the Rapture – you can always consult the Rapture Ready Index – the timing and circumstances of the Second Coming, and what will happen then – the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Millennial Kingdom – premill, postmill, amill. It’s all a bit challenging. But the truth is, a great battle will commence, and evil will ultimately be destroyed. Because Jesus is coming back, and He wants us to be prepared, however it unfolds. Last week, we saw to be watchful and prepared, this week, we will want to be found faithful. I mentioned Jonathan Edwards last week – Charles Spurgeon said the same thing, “Always act just as you would wish to be acting if He were to come.”
In our study of Luke, we find ourselves in the last six months of Jesus’ life. Jesus and His disciples are on their final trip to Jerusalem. He is about to return to heaven, but there is still some teaching to leave with His disciples. And we will find one of His major concerns is they and we are prepared for what is to come. That we are prepared for His return, that we are prepared for heaven, that we are prepared to meet God, and the judgment to come.
You may remember from last week, Luke has an intentional flow. Jesus has just told them, don’t be distracted by wealth – don’t focus on yourself – you don’t know what day your soul will be required of you. Be ready. And don’t worry about the things the world worries about – what you will eat, what you will wear. Just like God cares for birds and flowers, He cares for you. So, be faithful. Seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. For where your treasure is, your heart will be also. Because, we need to be prepared for the return of the King. Which brought us to our text last week, today is part 2, so let’s read the text again, Luke 12:35-48.
As I suggested last week, Jesus gives three or four parables to describe watchfulness and faithfulness, and people are either granted reward or punishment upon His return. Here’s the outline from last week:
I. The Command to be Ready (35)
II. The Parable of the Master’s Return (36-38)
III. The Parable of the Coming Thief (39-40)
IV. Peter’s Question (41)
V. The Parable of the Faithful Servant (42-44)
VI. The Parable of the Unfaithful Servants (45-48)
We looked at the first three points, which covered the first two parables – the Parable of the Master’s Return from a marriage feast in which he found the servants ready and waiting for his coming, his return. Unbelievably, the master then dressed himself for service, he rolled up his sleeves, and invited his servants to the table, and served them. That was amazing because this parable was speaking of Chris’s return, and the implication is, He will be so overjoyed at our commitment to Him and our preparation for His return that He will invite us to His table at the marriage supper of the Lamb and serve us. For many entitled people, this may not surprise us, but it should be shocking.
The second parable was found in verses 39-40, which was, again, quite unexpected. Jesus likened His return to that of a thief. You see, the thief comes when least expected. If the head of the house had known when the thief would come, he would have been prepared. But since he doesn’t know, the teaching of the parable seems is always be prepared for the return of Christ, as He will come at time least expected.
Which brings us to the second section of parables, verses 41-48. It begins with the always present and talking Peter asking a question – to whom are you speaking, Jesus – to us – that is, the Twelve, or to everyone, to include the crowd? Very interestingly, Jesus doesn’t answer directly, but seems to suggest, at this point, He begins addressing the Twelve. Why do I say that? Because in “answering” Peter’s question, Jesus says some are faithful and sensible stewards who are waiting for the master to return. Now, some stewards are not waiting – in fact, they are living egregiously sinful lives.
But let’s start with the good ones. Notice, Jesus says, who then is the faithful and sensible steward? That’s an interesting word – He doesn’t use the word servant or slave – it’s oikonomos, which speaks of a manager or a steward. One who carries some degree of responsibility, authority, or oversight. And you see that further because this steward is put in charge of the master’s servants – different word – to give to the servants their rations – their food allotment at the proper time. Now remember, it’s a parable.
Peter asked his question after the first two parables – who are you talking to in these parables – to us to or everyone? You see, Jesus had spoken in the first parable of the servants, the slaves of the house – all those who are waiting for the master to return. But then, in the next parable, Jesus speaks of the head of the house – could be the master, could be the steward – the one responsible for the management of the master’s household. So, we can see Peter’s confusion and therefore his question. Wait, are you talking about all servants in the house, or the head of the house, the manager, the steward?
Again, Jesus answers indirectly with a question – Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom the master will put in charge of his servants? Again, most agree Jesus seems to turn His attention to the Twelve, because, He answers by now talking about those in stewardship authority – those over the servants. And we remember, Jesus built His church on the foundation of the apostles – the church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets – with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.
And so, Jesus seems to say, well Peter, let’s talk about the responsibilities I’m leaving you, and to those in oversight. Who would that be? Well certainly the Twelve whom He named apostles. But they’re no longer here, and there’s no such thing as apostolic succession or papal succession. Who has Jesus left in responsibility or authority over His believers – over the church? Clearly, the answer is pastors and elders, and I would suggest to some degree, any ministry leader. It’s anyone who carries oversight responsibilities – manager or steward responsibilities. And when Jesus returns and finds those stewards He has left in charge of His servants – giving them rations at the proper time – they will be blessed when He comes. Oh, then we remember James’ words, not many of you should presume to be teachers, knowing that you will be judged more strictly. The greater the responsibility, the greater the accountability.
Now obviously, this is a parable, so in what way are those in charge – in authority over the church to feed with proper rations at the proper time those under their care? Well, I don’t think Jesus is talking about church potlucks. Pastors, Elders particularly, but again, even those in ministry leadership have the responsibility to shepherd the flock – the church of God. One of my favorite passages is found in Acts 20:28 where Paul is addressing the Elders of the church in Ephesus and gives them their job description, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
So clearly, as overseers, which is a different word than steward but carries the idea of managing, overseeing, they are to shepherd the church – the one God loved so much He purchased the church with His own blood. By the way, I think that is one of the strongest verses in the Bible to speak of the deity of Jesus Christ. Who gave His blood to purchase the church? Jesus did – here, called God.
So, how do overseers, managers, elders shepherd the flock of God called the church? As you consider a shepherd from Acts 20, primarily in three ways. First, they lead the flock in their positions of leadership – they are overseers. Such that, it is the responsibility of the flock to obey their leaders and submit to their authority, Hebrew 13 says. Second, they feed the flock, as Paul said he did to the church in Ephesus, declaring to them the whole counsel of God found in the Word of God. And third, they protect the flock, Paul says, by being on guard and protecting the sheep from false teachers. They lead, they feed, they protect. Yes, there are other things, like equipping the saints – the servants for works of service. Yes, but this context seems to speak more to their leading, feeding, caring for, and protecting the sheep. It’s the pastors’, elders’ and ministry leaders’ primary job.
Such shepherds Jesus says are faithful and sensible stewards, put in charge over the Lord’s servants, and they provide for those servants at the proper time. In other words, these stewards are not self-serving and self-focused – they are household focused, church focused, meeting the needs of God’s people.
And so, blessed is that steward when the master comes and finds the steward so doing. It’s interesting, the stewards are also servants of the master, called slaves in verse 43, who simply have the responsibility of oversight.
So, I do think Jesus is answering Peter’s question – yeah, Peter, I’m talking to you, be found faithful. But can we broaden the truth of the parable to all Christ’s servants? I think we can. Don’t we all have stewardship responsibilities? Of course we do. But don’t miss this, who is the servant of Christ, who is the servant ready for the return of the Master? Clearly, he is the one who has been redeemed – who has come to faith in Jesus Christ. It is not possible to be ready for the return of Jesus without knowing Jesus – without believing in Jesus and submitting to His lordship and believing in and looking for His return.
And having believed, we then prove the reality of faith by being faithful. The sensible slave, not just the steward, all servants are faithfully fulfilling responsibilities the master left us to do. The fact is, we have many God-given responsibilities as followers of Jesus. It does include growing in the Word, it does include sharing the Word with others, believer and non-believer alike. But it also includes your responsibilities as a worker in your job, as a husband, as a father, as a wife, as a mother, as a student, as a child, as a neighbor, as a citizen, etc. The point is, we have many biblical responsibilities God has given us as citizens of His kingdom to care for people. And the follower of Jesus Christ is the one who takes all those responsibilities seriously. He doesn’t live for sin and self. Everything we do – whether we eat or drink – we do for the glory of God. As a result, when the master returns, he or she will be blessed and rewarded with more responsibilities. This is incredible. Look at verse 44 – when the master returns, he will put the faithful and sensible steward in charge of all his possessions. That’s interesting.
We must lose the idea that when Jesus comes back, when we get to the new heaven and new earth what we are simply going to be floating on clouds, strolling on streets of gold, and strumming on harps. No. Here, being found faithful increases our responsibilities. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 25 and Luke 19 in the parable of the talents. When the master returns, those who were faithful with what he left them to do will hear these words, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Responsibilities will simply increase without the stain of thorns and sin. Of sin and its curse.
On the other hand, the unfaithful steward, also called a slave, is the one who lives for sin and self-indulgence. Therein is the critical difference – the sensible slave serves others, the wicked slave serves himself. The fundamental difference in a redeemed person filled by the Spirit is the desire to serve others. That’s what the faithful and sensible steward did, right?
Notice here, the unfaithful steward convinces himself, the master is not coming for a long time. By the way, this is not a believer who is unfaithful to his responsibilities – this is the unbeliever, who is accountable to the master whether he realizes it or not, and simply lives for himself. Where is this coming He promised, they ask. They are most of the vast majority of people who believe there is a God, and in some sense probably recognize there is a day of accounting coming, but they live for themselves. Their relationships with other people are governed by what they can get. In this story, he beat his fellow slaves – he lived a violent life. He eats – the implication is he doesn’t feed the servants under his watch. He gets drunk – he lived in self-indulgence.
But notice, the day of reckoning came. The master returned when the slave was unsuspecting, when he did not expect him. And in the day of judgment, things will not go very well. Verse 46 says these startling words, the master will cut him in pieces. The words speak of severe punishment. And notice, he is assigned a place with the unbelievers – Matthew’s parallel account tells us, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, a description of the agony and suffering of hell. It seems he’s a professing believer in the master’s house, but he’s not – he simply lives for himself, and the consequences are dreadful.
Jesus goes on in verses 47 and 48 to describe a couple other kinds of unfaithful stewards, or maybe unfaithful slaves. In verse 47, it is the slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will. Oh, maybe they didn’t beat the servants and live a gluttonous and drunken life – they simply did not do what the master required. To be clear, this person was also not a believer – his actions proved it – he just wasn’t as evil as the first unfaithful steward. And so, as a result, he will receive many lashes – a bit less than being cut in pieces. But there is just punishment.
The third person in verse 48 did not know the master’s will, but still committed deeds worthy of flogging – he will receive only a few lashes. He will still be justly punished, but not as severely.
There are a couple of important truths we learn from this last parable of the unfaithful servants. First, it seems to indicate there will be levels of punishment in hell. Every so often, we hear all sin is the same, and there is sense in which that is true because all sin, regardless of the nature of the sin, makes us guilty before God and deserving punishment. But, this parable seems to indicate all sin is not the same in terms of the punishment received. Varying degrees of sin leading to varying degrees of punishment.
A second thing we learn from the parable is that all sinners are guilty before God and deserve just punishment. Those who know God’s will and sin egregiously will be punished severely. Those who know God’s will and don’t do it will receive a lesser punishment, but punishment nonetheless. Those who do not know will receive lesser punishment, but they are still guilty. It seems to answer the oft-asked question of the fate of those who’ve never heard. They are still sinners in rebellion against God and deserve just punishment. Romans 1:18-20 makes the point clear:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Creation itself is enough to declare the existence of God – as we saw a couple weeks ago, causing most to believe in a God. But knowing that is not enough to save. They still live for themselves. Which also means that those who have never heard need the truth of the gospel – highlighting the great need of missions.
The parables end with words we’ve likely heard before: From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. My brothers and sisters, we have been given much. Not only are we without excuse by the light of creation – we are without excuse by the light of special revelation through His Word and His Son. You’ve heard me say this – it would have been better to have never heard the truth, then to hear it, and deny it. If you’re here this morning and have believed, given your life to Jesus – greater responsibility. Kent Hughes writes this:
“We have so much. We have the word of the Old Testament, the word of the prophets, the word of the covenants. We have the word of the New Testament, the revelation of the incarnation, the gospel of grace, the life and teachings of Jesus, the apostolic witness and teaching. We have two thousand years of the church’s testimony. We have abundant preaching. We have Christian education. We have thousands of books. We have a wealth of opportunities. Consequently, much is required of us!”
Let me close with these thoughts. As I thought about the text last week and this, I thought of the old children’s game, hide and seek. It’s been found written in ancient literature as old as the 2nd Century BC. The rules have almost always been the same. Whoever is it closes their eyes and counts aloud while others hide. When the count is complete, he or she begins to look for those hiding, in some versions of the game, trying to tag the discovered before they make it to home base.
Whoever is tagged first is the new it. By the way, if whoever is it gets tired of looking or has already tagged someone, they may call out, Olly Olly Oxen Free. What in the world does that mean? We all know that those still hidden are now free to come home. Some suggest it was originally all ye, all ye, all outs in free. Others suggest it comes from the German which sounds similar, alle, alle, auch sind frei, and means the same thing. That has nothing to do with my thoughts about the game – I just found it amusing. Here’s why I thought of the game. When the count is complete, what does the person then yell out? Ready or not, here I come. Hear Jesus says those words to you today. Ready or not, I am coming.
My beloved, we must be ready. We prove the reality of our faith by our watchfulness and our faithfulness – faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities He has given us. 1 John 3 says,
1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Titus 2,
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
Are you in a hurry, looking for and faithfully preparing for the return of Christ?