“The Case for Christ - Wise Vs Unwise Servant: Love Waxes Cold”

The text tonight is found in 1 Peter 1:13: ‘Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’

I am going to build on this text as we continue the parables of Christ and the endtimes. So, if you like, open your Bibles to Mt 24, and follow along with me this evening.

In the parables of the wheat and the tares and of the building of the two houses, we started examining what our Lord said about the last days.

In the first parable, there is the separation between two groups of people in the world. In the second, the structural foundation of the house is the important truth.

We continue with this subject, as we examine the teaching of Jesus and the parable of the wise and the unwise servant that deals with the need of faithfulness and hope to the end.

What is it that obstructs faithfulness to the last day? 

Jesus answered that when the disciples asked Him about the signs that would signal this day, in Matthew 24:1-3. He gave a description of the imminent destruction of the temple of Jerusalem and all that would go along with that disaster.

And then He went on to give some general descriptions of the endtime. It was going to include a great period of  stress, upheaval, unprecedented troubles, and great dismay.
 
He prophesied of wars and rumors of wars, of nation rising against nation, of kingdom against kingdom. Even cataclysmic events of nature will contribute to the chaos.

Along with the many other characteristics of the age, the world’s hatred of Christ would intensify, many of His people would suffer persecution and be killed for His Names’ sake. 

Many will be offended because of Him. Many will betray Him by betraying one another and hating one another. Many shall turn away from the faith. Many will be deceived by false prophets and false teachings. (vs 10-11)

‘And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold’. (v 12)

Yes - this is what obstructs faithfulness to the last day. And this is what I would like to draw our attention to this evening - ‘the love of many shall wax cold’ but he ‘...who endures to the end shall be saved.’ (v 13)

And I would like to concentrate on two points: first, what precipitates this condition of ‘love waxed cold’ and, then, how is it avoided.

Let me start by first saying, the time of waiting and distress is going to be a long one: it is not a time that will come and go with haste. 

In the meantime, what was it going to be like? 

‘As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.’ (v 37) 

They were ‘eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage’ - in other words, it was ‘business as usual’, in spite of the danger ahead.

We probably can use our present-day situation as an example, as well.

Life goes on pretty much as usual in spite of terrorists threats that may be as imminent as any of the signs were in the days of Noah and in the days of the followers of Christ when He told them of the impending destruction of Jerusalem.

It is not uncommon to see people continue with their normal life styles in spite of the disorder and distress taking place. And this is a good thing, of course, in and of itself.

But, remember, for the Christian, it is surely the evidence of the long-suffering of God, as it was in the days of Noah. It was evident then, as it is now, that God ‘...does not faint; neither is He weary.’ (Isa 40:28) 

And, ‘...the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.’ 

For ‘The Lord is not slack, not negligent, concerning His promise, as some men count slackness or according to some people’s conception of slowness: but He is long-suffering, because it is not His will that any should perish.’

So, Jesus warned: the bridegroom is a long time in coming because God’s long-suffering has not yet reached the end of its purpose. 

But Jesus still admonished His followers to be vigilant as they moved forward to the final climax of human history.
  
It promises to come unexpectedly during the ordinary pursuits of human life and in the continuation of human history.

But why are His followers told to be watchful? The answer is found in verse 12: sin will abound and it will cause the love of many to wax cold. 

During the long period of waiting, sin and the practices of sin will escalate. And the tempting part of waiting is that, as business goes on as usual, sin increases. Unrestrained or unconstrained sin starts to ‘spoil the vine’, as illustrated by the unwise servant, in verses 48-51. 

We need vigilance and diligence to avoid this temptation.    

So, therefore, ‘watch - for you do not know what day your Lord will come,’ Jesus warned. (v 42)

‘Watch - always live in that expectancy that I will come in any given moment. Always live so that this moment of My return will not catch you with your guard down!’

‘See, then, that ye walk circumspectly - take heed of exactly how you are walking - walk like sensible men, not like simpletons’, Paul told the Ephesians in Eph 5:15.

Jesus first said it in this way: ‘Be as the faithful and wise servant who ‘did not suffer his house to be broken up or plundered.’ (v 43 of Mt 24)

He is attentive when he knows that the master is to return but does not know when that return will be. 

And he remains faithful, no matter how long it takes. He seeks to remain diligent and manages and cares well for his household.

The unwise servant does exactly the opposite. He betrayed his master - was faithless in waiting. He neglected his responsibilities. He became morally loose and careless, even abusive to others in his communal affairs; in short, his love toward his master and his household waxed cold.

How does this happen? 

The philosopher, Hegel, wrote: ‘Life has a value only when it has something valuable as its subject.’

And, this is true in the spiritual sense, as well. It is only in holding on to that one valuable object that will sustain to the end. 

Young widows, in 1 Tim 5:12, were condemned because they had ‘cast off their first faith.’

Their first impulse of faith in which their hearts were devoted only to Christ was cast away. Although there was nothing wrong with their desire for marrying again, yet that desire took priority over Christ in their inward beings and for that, they were reproved.  

The Ephesian church, in Rev 2:4, needed this truth to be burned into its inward part, too. It had lost its first love and the Lord graciously reminded them of this sin and told them to repent of it so that He would not have to remove them as His effective witness in the world.

And, so, with the unwise servant, the anticipation for the master’s return lost its value so much so that faithlessness crept in and it was not long, before sin abounded and love waxed cold. 

Yes - it is easy to get fatigued and annoyed with tasks that take so much time, energy, and demand unfailing consistency: it is so easy that we lose sight of the first impulse of faith.

It is easy to become lax, unreliable and inconsistent.

It is easy to get tired with hope that is so prolonged or gets drained because our expectation goes unfulfilled.

There is a weariness that can creep up on all of us at unguarded times as we move onward in life!

We all know how feeble humanity is - do we not? All earthly power has its limits in how long it can last. And because it is earthly, it does keep growing weaker all the time.

According to the law of physical decay, the decreasing strength of a man’s advancing years makes him become feeble and tired. 

The natural man is especially weak because of the nature that always distracts him, that torments his conscience as it saps his natural strength from him - is that not so?

The Scripture reminds us, ‘Even the youth shall faint, and be weary, and the young man shall utterly fall.’

This happens whether we are Christian or not. But - our feeble humanity cannot be the justification for setting aside that which is most needful: that ‘faith which works love’, that waiting faith that generates the work of Christ’s love in us.

The robe of ‘waiting love’ is what the wise servant wore. 

And what was happening in him? Go to Col 3:14-16, if you like, sometime, and you will see the rule that operates - 
Col 3:14-16.

It is simply this: faith in the master’s return gave the wise servant that peace that ruled his heart and settled his doubts. He was made rich in wisdom to carry on with his responsibilities while he waited.

It bound everything together for him in perfect harmony so that faithfulness to his master was no problem for him.

You see - in this time of waiting the inward strength of Christ is becoming manifest. He said to the apostle: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’

Yes - ‘they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength...’. This is the time that the strength of Christ and His force and power works in an unbroken flow to endure to the end.

Those who wait faithfully and consistently are drinking of the hope that lies within - of that hope of righteousness Christ works.  

And, for the Christian who waits and is consistently faithful, Christ generates a spiritual buoyancy and hope that is his perpetual inheritance of spiritual fervor.  

Listen to Job 17:9: ‘The righteous shall also hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.’ Do you see it? As he holds fast, his spiritual strength keeps increasing.

That is what fits us for those long, dreary hours that demands nothing short of just moving on steadfastly. 
 
If Christ is our first love through and through, and if we are faithfully waiting upon Him, then our love of Him and His return is being sustained by His constraining love. 

His constraining love prompts to consistent faithfulness. Please grasp this firmly: it is His constraining love that does that mighty work of faithfulness in us - faithful to Him, faithful to the ‘house’ we are building, and faithful to the members of His household.

We just go on for Christ’s sake, for the sake of the brethren, and for the sake of His universal church because His love constrains us to do so.

In other words, our inner affection of Him, for Him, and by Him keeps growing so that our witness of Him sustains its effectiveness. 

Let me say that again: the constraining love of Christ is what sustains the effectiveness of the testimony of Jesus. That is what the Lord was looking for in the Ephesian church.

So, Jesus, in essence, said: ‘Yes - the waiting time may be longer than you expect it to be. But - take care to watch and prepare.

Go on with your duties and responsibilities: they need to be attended to with care, wisdom, discretion, and common sense. 

Be responsible in the way you live your life but always be watchful - always be mindful about the preparations you make for this great day of the Lord.’

Yes - we all have times, depending on mood and circumstances, when things seem black and we are weary. The times seem long and hard; the distress, upheaval, and turmoil nearly chokes and drowns. 

Sometimes - it seems so hopeless - we are tempted to call it ‘quits’ - do you know what I mean?

But - please remember this - the more sad and pathetic the condition of our feeble humanity is, the more the strength of God becomes apparent and the more wondrous is that grace and power of His within us. 

Listen - if we live in this reality of the indwelling Christ, we will be compelled to live only by His constraining love that supplies us with that grace and power.

‘He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength.’

‘...and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger’, as I quoted from the book of Job earlier.

We need that strength, we need that consistency, we need the faithfulness that will endure to the end and that is only bestowed to us as we apply His constraining love.

And, with that divine resource, we can be assured Christ will hold us fast since we are like the wise servant in faithfulness unto Him.

May it never be said of us, either individually or as a fellowship, that we have lost our first love, that we are like the unwise servant, that our love has waxed cold.

I pray we do our part and hold fast to Christ, keep our hearts fastened upon Him in faithfulness and under the impulse of His constraining love, that we may always draw upon the power of God in Christ.

May we run with patience, with forbearance, and with consistent faithfulness, the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

‘Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’

Amen. So be it!