The Readiness and Alertness of the Steward (Part 2)

Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.

Love, Discipleship, and Faithful Stewardship

Opening Prayer

I would like to thank the many who have prayed for me for this message.

Let’s pray.

Father, we want to thank You so much for all that You have done for us. And Father, even this day, we have heard Your Word, Lord, through so many brothers this morning. We thank You also for the commendation of our brother Yuming as a deacon. We thank You for all Your wonderful ways in which You have blessed this assembly. And Father, we continue to commit this time to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The Time Is Short

Brothers and sisters, time passes so quickly. We are almost in the middle of 2024. June school holidays are approaching, and so too the assembly Bible camp.

Last week I spoke on the Lord’s coming as being unexpected and sudden, like a thief in the night, and that no one knows or can predict when the Lord is coming. We looked at the readiness and alertness of stewards. We read the Lord’s parable to be dressed in readiness for the Lord and to keep our lamps lit, so that our light may shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

We were exhorted to be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. And as sons of light and sons of day, we have already put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

I spoke about faith and hope last Sunday. Today, we continue with love.

The Greatest of These Is Love

Similar to what Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers concerning the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation, Paul also reminded the Corinthian Christians of the same things:

“Faith, hope, love abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

The word “greatest” here is the Greek word megas, from which we get the word “mega.” The word megas means big, large. It speaks about extent — the largest extent, the largest reach.

And love has the largest extent, the largest reach.

So the Lord said concerning the greatest commandment in Matthew 22 — the same word megas was used:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

So love is megas.

Now the Lord also said:

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

And again:

“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. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

The Mark of a Disciple

How do all men — including the brothers and sisters in this assembly, our neighbors, our friends, our family members, and colleagues — know whether we are disciples of Jesus or not?

The Lord said:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In these verses, we see a clear distinction between who the disciples of Jesus are and who are not.

He who loves Jesus will obey and keep His commandments. This defines the disciple of the Lord. And all men can see and know our love for the Lord Jesus Christ through our love for one another.

If you love the Lord, you are His disciple, and it follows naturally that you will keep His commandments and love one another.

On the other hand, the Lord said that he who does not love Him does not keep His commandments. This is how we discern who is not a disciple of the Lord. Such a person may attend meetings, be associated with Christians or Christian work, but you can discern whether he is truly a disciple by observing whether he loves the Lord and the brethren.

The Great Commission: Make Disciples

Let us look at one of the Lord’s most far-reaching commands — one which has changed the history of this world — also called the Great Commission.

The Lord said in Matthew 28:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We understand authority and being authorized to do a task. Think of the Great Commission: the highest authority was given to the Lord Jesus Christ, and this authority has been delegated to us to obey His command.

And what is this commission or task? It is to make disciples.

The word “disciple” comes from the Latin discipulus, meaning pupil or learner. A pupil, a learner, a student — a disciple is a student.

The Greek word mathetes refers to a disciple, and matheteuo means to make disciples — to instruct and teach. And manthano means to learn.

The word mathetes occurs over 250 times in the New Testament. A disciple is therefore a learner, a student of the Lord, schooled in all that the Lord commands.

Of course, we read just now that to be the Lord’s disciple, we must first love the Lord before we can enroll others as disciples.

The Lord told the eleven disciples in Matthew 28 to teach the new disciples to observe all that He commanded them.

Every one of us who loves the Lord Jesus Christ is a disciple of the Lord. We are students. We are learners.

If we are not disciples ourselves, we cannot obey Matthew 28:18–20. We cannot make disciples if we are not disciples ourselves.

So we are disciples.

Lifelong Learners

To make disciples, we must learn.

Practically, in this assembly, we encourage those who are not yet in the Christian Education program — the CE — to join the CE.

In this assembly, the CE studies have been prayerfully and carefully considered and written for the life of the assembly. There is a structured learning. This is a corporate effort by many in this assembly working together in the Spirit.

Recall from last week 1 Thessalonians 5:11:

“Encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”

The CE in this assembly achieves this by setting aside time each week for us to encourage one another and build up one another.

Many of us can personally testify how we learn and are built up through these CE sessions. And we are all lifelong learners, lifelong disciples.

There is no graduation in the CE program. In case you think that there’s no slide, it’s purposely done that way because I’m just pausing for the CE.

There is no graduation, no certificate, no diploma, no degree — but there is hope.

We can look forward to the graduation in heaven when the Lord assesses our performance on the earth.

So let us encourage one another and build up one another.

It Is Not for Us to Know the Times

Coming back to the Lord’s commission, we go to Acts 1:6–8:

“Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

The disciples were asking Jesus whether He, now resurrected, would take over as King. Essentially, they were saying, “Lord, when are You going to take over as King?”

But Jesus answered:

“It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

The apostles asked about the timing, but the Lord reminded them that the times and epochs belong to the Father’s authority.

Did not the Lord already say that not even the angels in heaven, nor even the Son, knew that time which the Father had fixed by His own authority?

But instead, the Lord said:

“You shall be My witnesses.”

This answer applies to all of us. It is not for us to know the times and epochs, but for us to be alert and ready.

The time is short.

Even if the Lord does not come during our lifetime, we ourselves may go at any time. After all, we are all but a breath away from meeting the Lord.

Paul told the Corinthians that the time is short, and he said this in the context of the situation that the Corinthian Christians were in. Yet many of us here in this assembly know that the time is short for us.

Vanity of Vanities

We recently studied Ecclesiastes and came across the word “vanity.”

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

The word “vanity” is taken from the Hebrew hevel, which means breath or vapor. The name Abel in Genesis comes from this same word — hevel — breath.

So “vanity of vanities” is havel havalim — breath of breaths. All is but a breath.

Everything that man achieves, everything that man has, is but for a brief moment. It can be taken away so easily and so soon.

So redeem the time. Make the most of your time. Make use of the moments.

Growth in Discipleship

Coming back to disciples and learners, there are stages of learning.

When Apollos was at Ephesus, he was taught by Priscilla and Aquila to be more accurate in his teaching.

“But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way more accurately.”

So we go through stages of growth as disciples.

In 1 John, we are told of three stages of spiritual growth: children, young men, and fathers.

In Ephesians 4, we are told that we may no longer be children. As disciples, we are not to remain as children. The purpose of discipleship is to learn, so that we may no longer be:

“Tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Rather:

“Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head — into Christ.”

While we learn from teachers, from the written Word, the spoken Word, through reading and research, and by searching the Word of God ourselves, we must always be taught by the Holy Spirit.

For:

“We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”

And:

“Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

We experienced this even this morning, as the Holy Spirit moved brethren to come up and speak the Word of God, and the Lord used these words to speak to our hearts.

Paul also told the Corinthians not to exceed what is written:

“These things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written.”

It is important that we do not exceed what is written, so as not to be carried away by false teaching and false prophecy.

Stay within the Word.

Hebrews 13:7–9 says:

“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings.”

The Apostle Paul tells us that the Lord:

“Gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service.”

These ministries are given so that we may attain maturity.

Discipleship is not one man to one man. Discipleship is by a plurality of ministries.

Stewardship and Spiritual Gifts

Now we come to the theme of the camp:

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

This is the theme verse for the coming assembly Bible camp.

It says here that every one of us, without exception, has received a gift from the Lord. There is a gift designated to you. You have it.

And it goes on to say:

“Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

We heard last week that we are lamps lit to shine so that we may glorify the Father. If we use our gifts, God will be glorified through Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote concerning these speaking and serving gifts. He speaks about gifts such as prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and showing mercy.

Paul also admonished Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2:

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season.”

This is readiness as stewards. We are to be ready — ready with the gift of speaking.

Some of you here may think that speaking is reserved only for a few. It is not.

All of us speak. None of us do not speak.

Every one of us speaks. It could be in Sunday school, a children’s corner, youth meetings, various adult meetings, RFGC, assembly meetings, gospel meetings, or in conversations with each other.

We speak to people every day. We speak to our children, spouses, siblings, parents, neighbors, and colleagues.

We also speak by typing messages on WhatsApp. Some of us speak to our children through WhatsApp even though they are in the next room. They may not respond to our spoken words, but they respond to WhatsApp.

So when we send WhatsApp messages, we can also WhatsApp the gospel to others. We can send links, YouTube messages, Zoom links. These are all opportunities to be ready in season and out of season.

With faith and love, we can speak the utterances of God.

You alone can go to places where nobody else in this assembly can go. You alone can speak to people whom nobody else in this assembly can speak to.

So we are to speak the utterances of God as evangelists and let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Conclusion

Last week we spoke about faith, love, and the hope of salvation. Today we discussed love for the Lord, which is the essential and fundamental character of the Lord’s disciple.

The Lord’s disciple is identified as one who loves the Lord Jesus, and this is reflected in a life of keeping His commandments and loving one another.

The Lord’s disciple is also a lifelong learner who learns the Word and commandments of the Lord.

The Great Commission is to go and make disciples — disciples of all nations.

We are to encourage one another and build up one another. A practical and systematic way of doing this in this assembly is to attend the CE.

And let me say this: Brother Gerro and Brother Chi did not ask me to say this.

We are also reminded that all of us are gifted. We are given gifts by the Lord, whether speaking gifts or serving gifts. As good stewards, we are to use our gifts so that men may glorify God.

And we are reminded from the Word of the Lord that the time is short to do whatever we have to do as stewards.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for Your wonderful Word which You have given us. Lord, because the Lord is with us today. Even though we cannot see Him, we cannot see the Head, yet we can see the Body, which is all of us here.

Even though He is invisible, yet He is visible through the Body and through the Holy Spirit who works through us.

And Father, we want to thank You for all that You have done, and we pray that You will help us to be good disciples, to shine as lights so that men may glorify the Lord.

Father, we thank You for all these things. We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.