Faithful Servants for God: Matthew 24:45-51

As Jesus shares the final group of parables leading up to His betrayal and arrest, He decides to focus a good portion of the time on challenging the disciples, and really all of His followers who would come afterwards, to stay faithful and to be wise. To help illustrate this, Jesus shares a brief parable that describes what it looks like to be a faithful and wise servant, and Jesus contrasts this with a servant who would be considered evil.

Let’s read this parable and focus in on some things we can learn from it. Our parable and passage are found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 24, and we will read from the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 45, Jesus asks His followers the question:

⁴⁵ Who are faithful and wise servants? Who are the ones the master will put in charge of giving the other servants their food supplies at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Servants are fortunate if their master comes and finds them doing their job. ⁴⁷ You may be sure that a servant who is always faithful will be put in charge of everything the master owns. ⁴⁸ But suppose one of the servants thinks that the master won’t return until late. ⁴⁹ Suppose that evil servant starts beating the other servants and eats and drinks with people who are drunk. ⁵⁰ If that happens, the master will surely come on a day and at a time when the servant least expects him. ⁵¹ That servant will then be punished and thrown out with the ones who only pretended to serve their master. There they will cry and grit their teeth in pain.

In this parable, we see a clear contrast between the faithful, wise servants and the evil servant.

This parable points out that the faithful servants are the ones who do their jobs when the master is present and when the master is away. A servant who the master can count on to do the tasks set before them is one the master sees as faithful and wise. A servant who the master can trust is a servant who is ultimately given more responsibilities.

In contrast, evil servants are those who neglect their responsibilities and they pull other servants down to their level. The passage lists abuse and drinking among the behaviors of these evil servants. While I don’t believe drinking is a sin, I also don’t believe drinking is necessarily a wise activity. While drinking has research indicating there may be a little health benefit to doing so, that benefit is grossly outweighed by the risks involved. Wisdom involves weighing the benefits and the risks and making the best, long-term choice possible.

We could summarize the distinction between the wise and evil servants by saying that wise, faithful servants help the other servants, while evil servants hurt the other servants. The wise servants build the other servants up, while the evil servants pull the other servants down.

However, while this parable makes this distinction between the wise and evil servants, the biggest distinction between the wise and the foolish servants has to do with what the servant believes about the master.

In this parable, the key determining factor for a servant who is evil is one that assumes they know when the master will arrive, and they decide to try to get away with what they think they can while the master is not present. This would be like children behaving badly while their parents are not around. If a servant’s attitude is one that only behaves a certain way when the master is present, that servant is on the wrong path, because sooner or later, the truth will come to light and the servant will be caught doing wrong.

With the details Jesus shares in this parable, the wise, faithful servants cannot be caught off guard by the master’s arrival, because everything they are doing is exactly what they would want to be doing when the master arrives. The only servant in this parable who can be surprised by the master’s arrival is the evil servant who assumed the master would return much later than he did.

In this parable, we discover an amazing metaphor and contrast that describes how people living today view God’s return. In the world today, there are many people who believe Jesus is returning, many people who believe that God doesn’t exist, many people who believe that God has abandoned us, and many people who are too distracted or busy to think one way or another.

Those who believe Jesus is returning have two choices: They can live in a way that they would be happy to be caught doing when Jesus arrives, or they can assume Jesus’ return is at a distant point in the future and they can live as they please today.

When reading this parable, I don’t believe that this was geared at everyone on the planet as much as it is geared towards God’s own followers. People who don’t care about God or who don’t think He exists or cares about us are not going to consider themselves as His servants. Instead, God’s servants are those who call themselves Christians, followers of Jesus, believers, or any of the dozens of names that we use to set ourselves apart from those who do not care about God.

With the understanding that Jesus is speaking to His followers, will we trust that He is returning and live our lives in a way that we would be pleased to be caught doing? Or will we live in a way that sees what we can get away with since Jesus it is most likely that Jesus’ return is not today, or even tomorrow?

The choice is ours. However, remember that only those who live in a way that assumes Jesus’ return a long ways away will be surprised when He arrives. Those who live obedient lives will welcome Jesus’ return when it ultimately does happen. Those living obediently even want Jesus’ return to be that much sooner. We are ready to go home, and we are ready to live in a world without sin!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, continue to seek God first in your life and choose to live in a way that you know God would be proud of. Choose to live your life in a way that you would be pleased to be caught living, because when Jesus does return, the only people who are caught off guard will be those who believed Jesus’ return would be much later.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God each and every day. A close, personal relationship with God will keep your life grounded and aligned with God’s will and a personal relationship with God is the best way to know you are living for God and being a great representative of His. Prayer and Bible study are the best tools to use when building a foundation for a great spiritual walk with God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or turn away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!