April 8
Deut 32:28-52 | PS 78:56-64 | Prov 12:24 | Luke 12:35-59
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) will often announce to leadership that they will be coming to a particular hospital to assess if it is up to standards. When our hospital knows this there is preparation: stretchers are put away neatly, counters are unobstructed, etc. They have the ability to close a facility, fine it, damage its reputation or cause a potential loss of funding. So, there is preparation, and even one such as me, who is not a part of the paid staff of the hospital is asked to please be prepared. Consider this is not a matter of life and death, of one's eternity. As opposed to this planned visit, we are told that our Lord will return without warning. But, much more important than JCAHO, He is our Lord. He could come back while we are at work, when we are relaxing after a day at work, while we are all alone or with others, in broad daylight or in the wee hours of the night. The question arises: what will we be doing when He returns? Will we be honoring Him, ignoring Him, or worse than that dishonoring Him. Will our actions make us blush or will we be prepared?
We read in Luke 12:39-40, “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” Unlike JCAHO, He will arrive when we least expect Him. He goes on to explain it is like being a servant in a household. We are God's servants, and we read of this in 12:42-46, "A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. But what if the servant thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful." The truth is when He comes might be a time of peace within the household or difficulty, as we read in 12:51-52, "Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against."
Does anyone know the time and hour? No, only the Father. But we have been given His Word, the Bible, and though we don't know the exact times, it certainly seems close, as we read in Luke 12:56, "You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times." We are witnessing globalization, cashless societies, chip technology, wars all over, pandemics, shameless acts of sin, the rise of AI, and so much more. Many procrastinate in making a decision to follow Christ: wanting a little more time for "fun", a little more time of serving themselves rather than serving God. This is a very dangerous game with eternal consequences. Many in the faith are living as though they are not, perhaps not every moment of every day, but on most moments of most days. Do you want to be that prepared servant or the unprepared one? This isn't a game. This isn't a parable. These are literal words meant to be interpreted literally. He is literally going to be coming back one day, what will you be doing? More importantly, where will you be going when He does return?
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: