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41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” 42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. ~ Luke 12:41-48
Peter, in v.41, asks a very important question. The Lord Jesus answers with a parable. Up to this point the Lord Jesus has been speaking about the believers adventure with Him, and to what degree we experience it with Him. In this parable, He identifies the different outcomes for the faithful and the unfaithful believer.
In v.45 the Lord Jesus says, "But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk."
The believer in Christ never has and never will earn God's favor through anything we do. In addition, why would we think our lack of faithfulness would cause us to lose our salvation that the Lord Jesus earned for us through His cross? Our goodness did not factor into our justification.
We are either a faithful believer in the Lord Jesus or we are an unfaithful believer in the Lord. And, I might add, we are faithful in one moment and not faithful the next. This has all to do with our sanctification, that process we entered into when we were first saved. To the degree that we experience the Lord Jesus and the adventure He desires to give us today is the degree to which we will be deemed faithful. The faithful are characterized by their deepening personal relationship with the Lord and the unfaithful are characterized by their stunted relationship with the Lord, that is if they have a personal relationship with the Lord in the first place. I should say fellowship because our relationship is based on what the Lord Jesus did on our behalf at the cross. Our fellowship with Him is the outworking of said relationship.
In v.42-44 we read, "The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions."
Everyone has been given the blessing of common grace and to one degree or another, an opportunity to follow the path of truth to the knowledge of God. The faithful are those who have responded to the truth with some measure of regularity. The faithful are those who are ready for the imminent return of Christ.
The faithful servant has been given resources and has used those resources appropriately. As a result, the faithful servant been given more and more revelation which prepares him for that which the Lord Jesus has in store for him in the future.
To that servant, when the Lord Jesus comes back, will say according to v.43 "It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns." In fact, according to v.44 it's going to be great, because the Lord Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions." Not just part of it, not just pieces out of it, all of it. He will get it all. He will reign with Christ as a joint-heir. He will be raptured with the church and will come back with the Lord when He sets up His millennium kingdom and reign with Him there and even throughout eternity. Needless to say, our faithfulness now will impact our responsibilities in heaven.
In v.45-48 we read, "But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Rather than being faithful, the unfaithful engage in that which is contrary to the Lord's will for his life. He is not convinced the Lord will return soon, so, he engages himself in the life of illusion this world offers. I might add, these who will be assigned to the place with the unbelievers are those who in the first place were not believers.
In v.46 we read, "The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers." The phrase “cut him in to pieces” means “to cut off, to separate him.” Our Lord will separate the faithful believer from the unbeliever.
In v.47 we read, "The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows." Being beaten is far less than being hacked to pieces. The unfaithful servant is stunted in his heart's ability to see God. His trust is therefore impacted, and he is not one to throw caution to the wind with regard to knowing and doing the will of God. He is not one to take risks and his adventure is less than because of his shallow faith.
According to v.48, the one who didn't even know what his master wanted will be beaten but not as severe as those mentioned before. The principle here is: from everyone who has been given much, much shall be required and to whom much is entrusted, of him will be ask all the more.
The Lord Jesus is coming and the faithful servant will be ready. And when the Master arrives, he's going to be blessed and he's going to be given the kingdom. But the servant who will be found unfaithful will not be in the same position as the faithful believer. There will be a smaller mansion awaiting him in heaven.
Once a believer starts to think his Master is not coming back, his life begins to deteriorate. Our relationship with others depends on our relationship to the Lord, so if we stop looking to Him, we will stop loving them. The motive for this Christian life and service must be founded in our desire to please the Lord and be found faithful at His return.
I do not think that Luke 12:46 teaches that unfaithful believers lose their salvation, because our going to heaven depends on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not our good works. God’s judgment will be based on what the servants know of God’s will. This is not to suggest that the more ignorant we are, the easier time we will have at the judgment seat of Christ! We are admonished to know God’s will and to grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ: the more we have from God, the greater will be our accountability before God.
Therefore, engage in His will today. Throw caution to the wind and trust and obey Him today as He leads. The more we relate to Him and respond to His call, the more exciting will be our adventure with Him.
