Your Position Requires Faithfulness and Wisdom (Matthew 24:45-51)
length: 79:10 - taught on Dec, 28 2025
Class Outline:
Sunday December 28, 2025
Intro: None of us are mere mortals.
"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
All day long you are helping the people around you in either of these two directions. Do you think I (or he) overstate the case?
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
While we wait for the Lord to return, we have been given a responsibility to care for people.
Therefore, while we wait for the Lord, the burden of my neighbor must be daily on my back. GAL 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Only humility can carry it.
“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Background:
The slave in view is the head of the contingent of household slaves. Depending on the wealth of the lord of the house, the staff could be considerable, making this position a very demanding, important and skilled position.
No person ever appointed himself as leader of the slaves. No believer has ever appointed himself or herself to their place in the body of Christ.
The twist in the parable is that the lord of the house is away; thus the butler has no immediate oversight. This precisely the situation that believers would be in between the advents of Christ and which would be the situation in the next two parables.
Who then is the faithful and wise slave?
The Lord uses two words to describe the good slave:
Pistos: pertaining to being worthy of belief or trust, trustworthy, faithful, dependable, inspiring faith/trust.
Mostly used of God, Christ, and God’s word. Think of that fact and now think of the same word being used of you in the same way.
Of God’s servants:
MAT 25:21 [parable of the talents of both investors]
“His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave …”
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service…
Paul described Timothy, Tychicus, Onesimus, and Peter calls Silvanus faithful and in each case these men are put into an important, vital service to the apostles.
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. 3 But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. 4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord [who is coming]. 5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.
For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
Wise (“sensible” is a weak translation. It is much more than common sense): phronimos = understanding resulting from insight and wisdom. God wants us using the reasoning He has gifted us with on the grounds of His Word.
It is obvious to us that it is essential that a leader of a household staff have these two qualities.
Are you a good steward today of what the Lord has given you?
The good steward does his job well and is always alert and ready for the master to return, and he is promised that when the master does return, there will be great reward to him.
“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”
The Lord makes the faithful and wise slave the standard. The evil slave is so in the light of the good and blessed slave.
Christ is the standard, and all lives are judged in reference to His. This is how it will be when He returns.
The evil slave:
“But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The master “will come” (future active indicative) = His coming is sure and inevitable, though the time is unknown (even to Him).
Note that the evil slave is the one making predictions about the return of the master (of Christ). “My master will delay.”
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
37 For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
38 But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
The phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is used in MAT 8:12 [unbelieving Israel]; MAT 13:42 [the tares; unbelievers in the mystery age]; MAT 13:50 [bad fish]; MAT 22:13 [unbelieving religious leaders; parable of the vineyard owner]; MAT 25:30 [the one who did not invest the talent]; LUK 13:28 [parallel to MAT 8:12; unbelieving Israel].
All of us have a role in Christ’s body as royal priests, gifted, indwelt by the Holy Spirit for a grand purpose realized in a life of righteousness.
The demand for faithfulness and wisdom.
Faithfulness to the Lord comes from love for Him. “If you love Me you will keep My commandments.”
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”
You will become the steward of that home.
All of us have a role in the body of Christ and this demands wisdom.
God wants us to use the reasoning powers He gave us under the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit to discern how to apply the knowledge of His Word to the people in our midst.
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise …
Closing:
All of us are appointed to this position. Would you imagine that Christ appointed someone to the position of great responsibility and expected them to do a bad job, or nothing at all?
Christ appointed you to a position in His body, the function of which demands faithfulness and wisdom (understanding practiced).
There is provision for the carnal believer and it is repent or lose reward.
What you release is what you receive.
Christ promises reward, but notice what the reward is. It is more work and responsibility for the same master.
He wants to get you there and He will not settle for anything less. He will never quit on you.
Righteousness is the standard and always will be. Do not conform an inch to unrighteousness. That world is only destined for judgment as is its ruler.
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