May we be the faithful and prudent slaves who are rewarded by the Lord at His return with authority to rule in the manifestation of His kingdom! May we not be the evil slave, the slothful slave, who will cut off from the glorious Christ because he “beat his fellow slaves” and “ate and drank with the drunkards”.
What a warning this is for our Christian life and service in the light of the Lord’s return! In Matt. 24 the Lord speaks concerning His second and imminent coming, and He gave us a parable concerning being faithful in our service to Him in the light of His return.
On one hand, we need to be watchful in life, seeking to enjoy the Lord and be filled with the Spirit not only in our lamp but also in our vessel, our soul.
On the other hand, we need to be faithful in serving the Lord, doing business until He comes; we need to be the faithful and prudent slaves who do not beat our fellow slaves neither do we eat and drink with the drunkards.
To beat our fellow slaves refers to mistreating our fellow believers. We may think we never mistreated a believer, but when we speak behind his back concerning his situation, when we gossip about someone, and when we revile them, we “beat” them, for we mistreat them.
One of the reasons that the church today is so divided and damaged is that there are reviling words; the believers care for the Lord, they care for His people, and out of their natural care for others, they revile them. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Sometimes a reviling word spoken by a brother can hold back an entire church for decades!
The person who reviles is accountable to the Lord for his reviling; also, the ones who listen and take in the reviling words, they are also accountable to the Lord for this.
When others revile us, we should not revile them back; we shouldn’t think that, if someone reviles us first, we should get back at him and revile him also, for he is also to be blamed.
When others revile us, we shouldn’t get knocked out, feeling sorry for ourselves, even to the extreme that we leave the fellowship and the church, because we get put down so much.
Rather, when others revile us, we should not let those words touch us; inwardly we should bring those matters to the Lord, bringing everything to Him as the righteous Judge.
When Aaron and Miriam came to challenge Moses and reviled him, they spoke slandering words to him; Jehovah heard those words, and He came in to judge.
May we bring all these matters to the Lord and, on our side, may we not revile others but rather, seek to minister life to them, yearning to give them something of Christ in a positive way for their growth in life unto maturity.
If we all learn not to speak reviling words to others and also how to deal with such speaking when we hear it, the church will be very much preserved, and division and damage will be prevented.
When we are conscious of the Body of Christ, realizing that we are members of the Body, we will not speak evil of anyone, neither will we criticize or condemn or judge them; rather, we will consider that others are more excellent than ourselves, and we will only minister Christ to them.
An Evil Slave who Loves the World and is Stupefied will be Disciplined by the Lord at His Coming
In Matt. 24:48-50 we see that the evil slave says in his heart that his Master delays, so he does two things: he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and he eats and drinks with the drunken.
We believers in Christ are slaves of God, but if we say in our heart that the Lord delays, this gives us an excuse to do these two things – mistreat our fellow believers and love the world and be stupefied by it.
For someone to eat and drink with the drunken is to keep company with worldly people, who are drunk with worldly things and worldly enjoyment.
Once a believer keeps company with worldly people, he will not be faithful to the Lord in using the gift He gave him, so he will be disciplined by Him at His return.
The first fall from serving the Lord is to “beating the fellow slaves” by mistreating the saints.
Then the further fall is eating and drinking with the worldly people, enjoying what they enjoy, and being stupefied like they are.
When an evil slave beats his fellow slaves, in a sense, he is still interested in the church life; when he eats and drinks with the drunkards, however, he is no longer interested in the Lord and in the church, but he spends time with the worldly people and even becomes like them.
Once someone makes a decision to forget about the church and have no interest in the church, he will spontaneously love the world and he will keep company with worldly people, who are always stupefied with this age.
A brother or sister who loves the world has no heart to talk about whether the saints are good or bad; they may have once mistreated their fellow believers, but now they are fully occupied with worldly enjoyment. Oh, Lord!
For such an evil slave, nearly every day may be a “happy day” and every weekend is a pleasant weekend, for they are not involved with the things of the Lord but rather, they are stupefied by the worldly things and are involved with them.
An evil slave gives himself the excuse that, since the Lord does not return right away, he has time, so he loves the world and the things in the world, and he does not do business for the Lord, for he thinks he has time to do this later. Oh, Lord!
When the Lord comes back, first of all, He would not accept such excuses, and secondly, He will cut this one off.
At His coming back, the Lord will cut off, or cut asunder, His unfaithful slaves (Matt. 24:51); this doesn’t mean that these will be “cut into pieces” but rather, that they will be cut off from Christ.
When we were regenerated, we were joined to Christ, attached to Him as the anointed One (2 Cor. 1:21).
Whatever we do today, the Lord is there with us and in us; even when we backslide, the Lord is still with us, working to bring us back to Himself.
However, if we remain unfaithful to the Lord and slothful in our service to Him, at His coming back the Lord will cut us off from being attached to Him.
He will cut us off from His glorious presence and will be in a place that will be the portion of the hypocrites. Oh, Lord Jesus!
The unbelievers will have as their portion eternal perdition, but the evil slaves, the slothful slaves, will have a temporary, dispensational punishment.
May we not be evil slaves but rather, may we realize that we are holy people who should not be involved with the world and the things of the world and the people in the world.
Because of our divine nature and holy standing, we should not be yoked together with the unbelievers; this should be applied to all intimate relationships between believers and unbelievers, and not only to marriage or business (2 Cor. 6:14; 1 Cor. 15:33; cf. Prov. 13:20).
If we are involved with the worldly people and the worldly things, if we are slothful and evil slaves who do not serve the Lord and the saints but are rather stupefied by the things in the world, this will frustrate us from carrying out our duty to feed the household of God with food!
Our association with worldly people, drinking and being drunk with them, will cause us to become common like them, defiled, and we will not have food to give others in the house of God.
There should be no mixture between the holy and the unholy, and what is of God should not be mixed with the world; if we befriend the world, in due course, our vision will be blurred and diluted.
For us to be faithful and prudent slaves, we need to be absolute for the Lord, and we need to be pure, not mixed with the things in the world or the people in the world.
Lord Jesus, save us from being evil slaves who eat and drink with the drunken by keeping company with worldly people and being stupefied by the worldly things. Oh Lord Jesus, save us from being yoked together with the unbelievers – may we be holy and divine in our nature and standing, and may we not drink of what this world has to offer! Amen, Lord, keep our heart pure and single for You, not being mixed or tainted with the love for the world. We want to gain the reward when You return and not be cut asunder from being in Your presence! We love You, Lord Jesus, and we love the church; we want to enjoy You and be filled with You, and we want to give food to those in Your house, being the faithful and prudent slaves until You return!
Flee Youthful Lusts, Pursue Christ with the Saints, and Contact others for the Gospel to be Faithful and Prudent Slaves
Instead of being mixed with the world and the things in the world, we should flee youthful lusts and pursue the all-inclusive Christ with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22).
Whatever is in this world – the lust of the flesh, the vainglory of life, and the lust of the eyes are not of the Father but rather, it is passing away; but whoever loves God and pursues Christ will remain forever (1 John 2:16).
We need to have proper companions in the church life; our companions are not in the world or of the world, for evil companionships corrupt good morals.
If we have proper and good companions in the church life, we will pursue the Lord together, and we will be able to render food to God’s household.
Instead of being involved with the things in the world and loving the world, we should use our time to pray for our neighbors and go contact them, give them a booklet or a gospel tract, and visit them for the gospel.
Even if we can’t go in their homes due to the pandemic, and even though we may not know their name or who they are, we know that all men need the gospel, and we can be sanctified in our living by preaching the gospel and giving others gospel tracts.
We should not give ourselves excuses, saying that the Lord delays, we still have time to do this and that for the Lord but now we need to enjoy this or that in the world; rather, we should flee youthful lusts and pursue the Lord with the saints, and we should proactively preach the gospel to others.
The Lord is not after an excuse for why we didn’t give others food; He wants faithful and prudent slaves who visit others for the gospel, give them the Bible, and minister Christ into them.
We need to be faithful to the Lord in our service for Him by giving others food at the proper time.
We shouldn’t say that because everyone on our street is a believer, or that they didn’t respond positively to the gospel once, we should not give them a gospel tract; rather, we should be patient, diligent, and week by week we need to labor with patience by spreading and speaking the word of God.
We should ask ourselves how much time we have spent in visiting others with gospel tracts, with the Bible, and with the truth in God’s word.
We have companions in the church, we pray together, and we should simply go and visit people for the gospel, giving them the word of God and laboring with patience until the seed of life grows in them and they believe into the Lord.
If we are faithful and prudent slaves, we will be rewarded by the Lord with the authority to rule in the manifestation of the kingdom.
However, if we are evil slaves who have excuses for them to enjoy the world and be stupefied by it, we will be cut off from the glorious Christ, from the glory of His kingdom, and from His glorious presence in His kingdom.
Our being mixed with the world and spending time in the company of the people in the world will cause our vision to be blurred and diluted, and we will lose our absoluteness for the Lord.
However, our spending time in the word of God and with companions in the church life will strengthen our fleeing the youthful lusts and pursuing the all-inclusive Christ, and we will be faithful and prudent slaves who give others food at the proper time.
Lord Jesus, we want to flee youthful lusts and pursue the all-inclusive Christ with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart! Amen, Lord, we forsake any evil companionship and we want to pursue You with companions in the church life. Save us from giving ourselves excuses for loving the world and for not giving others food at the proper time. May we be those who are diligent to contact our next-door neighbors, give them the gospel, and pray for them to receive the Lord and become members of God’s household. Amen, Lord, may we continue to labor with patience in the gospel, pursue Christ with companions, and give food to those in God’s household so that we may be found faithful at the Lord’s return! Amen, may we be faithful and prudent slaves who will be rewarded at Your return and not be cut off from the glorious Christ as evil slaves!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 5, “The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move,” pp. 540-543, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 4, Being Faithful in Service.
- Hymns on this topic:
– If I gained the world, but lost the Savior, / Were my life worth living for a day? / Could my yearning heart find rest and comfort / In the things that soon must pass away? (Hymns #1079)
– Jesus Lord, my best love Thou art; / We two never, ever will part; / Thy dear presence is all my breath and might; / Thy dear smile is all my delight. / I would pour my heart out to Thee, / Love Thee, serve Thee, joined utterly; / My eternal portion, dear Lord, is Thee; / My one hope, Thy coming to see. (Song on, Jesus Lord, my best love Thou art)
– But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, / Faith, love, peace with those who / Call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (Scripture song)
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