Not being an Evil Slave who says, My Master Delays, but Loving the Lord and His Appearing

On one hand, we need to be a faithful and prudent slave who gives food at the proper time to those in God’s household; on the other hand, we need to not be an evil slave who thinks the Master delays so he beats his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken.

There are two sides to the same matter: one is an encouragement with a reward, and the other is a warning with a punishment.

On the positive side, we need to serve the Lord and serve His people, enjoying the Lord with all His riches and giving food to those in the household of God.

Even more, we need to realize that all men are God’s possessions, and by their being with us and around us, they have been given to us so that we would minister Christ as food to them.

If we do this until the Lord returns and He finds us feeding His people, we will be rewarded by Him and will enter into His joy; He will set us over all His possessions.

On the negative side, we need to not be an evil slave who says in his heart, My master delays, so he does all kinds of things such as beating his fellow slaves and eating and drinking with the drunken.

If we are such an evil slave – and yes, it is possible to be an evil slave as a believer – we will be punished by the Lord at His return, and we will be put in the outer darkness for a while, in the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

May we be the faithful and prudent slaves who prepare ourselves for the Lord’s return by having an attitude of hastening His coming and never considering that He is delaying, so we can do what we want to do.

May we be those who give food to the Lord’s household.

The Lord has entrusted us with a stewardship, the stewardship of grace; this is grace being given to us for others.

The all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit is embodied in the Word of God, and we can take this Word as our food.

As we enjoy the Lord in His word, as we partake of the riches of our wonderful Christ in His word, we will be filled with His riches, and there will be an overflow of the riches of Christ into others.

Every day we need to come to the Lord to enjoy Him in His word, and we need to seek to feed others by ministering Christ to them.

This must be our habit to such an extent that, when the Lord comes, He would find us so doing.

As those who love the Lord and long for His coming, our attitude is that we want to live a life that hastens His return.

So we enjoy Him, we partake of what He is to us in His word, and we seek to speak Christ both to unbelievers and to believers so that we may take care of God’s possessions.

We are so blessed: we have God as our portion!

And we can bless others by giving them Christ through our speaking and our attitude!

May we remind one another and encourage one another to dispense Christ to one another so that we may bless one another and be blessed by the Lord and in the Lord.

And may we heed the warning concerning being an evil slave; may we heed this warning in the Lord and before the Lord.

Beware of being an Evil Slave who says, My Master Delays, and Beats his Fellow Slaves

Matt. 24:48 speaks of an evil slave; this slave is a believer because he is appointed by the Lord (v. 45) and calls Him, “my master”, believing that He is coming.

On the positive side, we need to love the Lord and His appearing, and we need to be the faithful and prudent slave who feeds those in God’s household.

On the negative side, we need to beware of being an evil slave who says in his heart, My master delays, and then he begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken. Oh Lord!

To beat the fellow slaves is to mistreat the fellow believers, and to eat and drink with the drunken is to keep company with worldly people, who are drunk with worldly things.

May we beware of being an evil slave.

The evil slave knows that the Lord is coming, but he thinks that the Lord delays His coming, so he does not expect Him.

He doesn’t live a life that expects the Lord’s return, nor does he prepare for the Lord’s coming.

So when the Lord comes back, he will be punished by the Lord, for He will cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.

This means that he will be cut off from the Lord’s presence and glory, and he will be cast out into outer darkness where there is the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This corresponds to what the Lord says in Matt. 25:14-30 in the parable of the talents; the same punishment is also for those who do not use their talent.

May we use our talent properly for the Lord to gain interest, and may we be the faithful and prudent slaves who give food to those in God’s household at the proper time!

If we are an evil slave, however, the Lord will cut us off from the glory in which He Himself will be, and for one thousand years we will be separated from the Lord. Oh Lord Jesus!

We love the Lord, we want Him to return, and we do not want to be separated from Him.

The evil slaves will be cast into the outer darkness by being cut off from the Lord, from His presence, from His fellowship, and from the glorious sphere in which the Lord will be.

This doesn’t mean that they will perish eternally; a saved one will not perish eternally. However, he will be punished or chastened dispensationally.

As believers in Christ, we have been assigned a commission: give food to those in God’s household at the proper time.

If we do this, we will be rewarded, but if we say that the Lord delays and so we beat our fellow slaves and eat and drink with the drunkards, we will be dispensationally chastened by the Lord.

When the Lord returns, He will come with either reward or punishment for His believers.

He will reward the faithful and prudent slaves with the kingdom, but the evil slaves will lose the reward, will miss the enjoyment of the kingdom, and will suffer punishment and discipline where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

May we be those who are faithful and prudent in our service to the Lord to give food to those in God’s household at the proper time.

May we use our talent for the Lord to gain Him an increase, a profit.

And on the negative side, may we not be an evil slave who says in his heart, My master delays, and then eats and drinks with the drunken, and beats his fellow slaves.

What does it mean to beat our fellow slaves?

It is not to physically beat the brothers and the sisters but rather, to criticize them, gossip about them, and oppose them.

Sometimes in the church life we may criticize certain ones, maybe even the elders.

Some saints may pick up the phone as soon as they hear about what an elder said or did, and they spread the news. Such phone calls, such criticizing, and such opposing are beatings. Oh Lord.

When something negative happens to someone or a saint sins, may we not beat this one by passing on the news of this negative situation.

And may we not even subtly pray in the prayer meeting by exposing a certain situation or person.

Some saints may pray in a good way, but in their prayers expose some negative situation or a particular person and what he has done. Oh Lord.

The Lord knows our heart, and He knows that our hearts and our prayer are not so pure. Even our prayer can be a kind of beating.

We may pretend to be so spiritual, not beating or criticising or judging people, and we may even pray, but our prayer may be a beating of others.

May the Lord save us from being such an evil slave who beats his fellow slaves.

May we not waste our time in serving the Lord by beating our fellow slaves.

Each of our fellow slaves will give an account to the Lord, and it is none of our business to expose them, correct them, or talk to others about them.

We have to stop our criticizing, our judging, our murmuring, and our opposing, and we should simply give them food at the proper time.

May we spend our time and energy not on beating our fellow slaves but on doing a positive service for the Lord’s interest.

We should not judge and condemn our fellow believers but be kind to them, tenderhearted, forgiving them even as God in Christ forgave us (Luke 6:37; Eph. 4:31-32).

Instead of reviling or criticizing our brothers and sisters, we should consider them more excellent than ourselves (1 Cor. 6:10-11; Phil. 2:3, 29).

And instead of lording it over the saints, such as making decisions for them and telling them what to do and where to go, we should serve them as a slave to feed them with the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Pet. 5:3; Matt. 20:25-28).

Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your appearing. Save us from being an evil slave who says in his heart that the Master delays, so he beats his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken. Dear Lord Jesus, may our daily life and service be in an eager expectation of the Lord’s return. May we all do a positive service to the Lord in His house, feeding His people and not beating our fellow slaves. We want to receive a reward at Your return and not be dispensationally chastened. We do not want to be cut off from the Lord, from His presence, from His fellowship, and from the glorious sphere in which the Lord will be. Keep us in Your presence today. Fill us with Your riches and flow through us to others as food to supply them. Amen, Lord, we love You and we love Your appearing. We do not want to be an evil slave but rather, we want to be a faithful and prudent slave who serves the Lord and serves the saints until the Lord returns!

Not being an Evil Slave but Loving the Lord and Loving His Appearing, Awaiting His coming!

The characteristic of an evil slave is that he says in his heart that his master delays, so because he thinks in this way and has such an attitude in his heart, he does certain things. He beats his fellow slaves, and he gets drunk with the drunken.

The result is that, on the day that the Lord comes and finds the evil slave not doing what he is supposed to do, He will cut him asunder and assigns his portion with the hypocrites in the outer darkness. Oh Lord Jesus.

This is a solemn warning to us, and we should give heed to this matter. May the Lord save us from being an evil slave.

To say in our heart that our Master delays is to love the present age and not to love the Lord’s appearing.

Instead of this, we should love the Lord and His appearing, and we should await His coming (2 Tim. 4:8, 10).

Yes, it is true that it has been two thousand years since the Lord said, I come quickly, but this doesn’t mean that our attitude should be that of the evil slave who thinks, My master delays.

Instead of this, we should turn our hearts to the Lord and love Him, and we should love His appearing. Our attitude makes all the difference.

Our attitude needs to be one of expecting the Lord’s return by loving Him and His appearing, not one of saying that the Lord delays, so we can do this and that.

For example, to a diligent, hard-working student, the test is something that he welcomes, for he knows it will prove he studied hard.

He is actually waiting for the exam and eagerly expects it, for he prepares diligently, and he is ready to receive the reward.

But the lazy student who does not study but takes his time to do this and that instead of going through the material, the exam is not welcomed but dreaded.

He doesn’t want the exam to come quickly but wants to delay it.

Oh Lord Jesus! May we beware of being an evil slave who wants his master to delay his coming because he loves the present evil age and does not love the Lord’s appearing!

May we be those who love the Lord and His appearing, and not love the present age.

We either love the Lord or love the present age; we cannot love both.

And if we don’t love the Lord, we are accursed, for the Lord is coming (1 Cor. 16:22).

If we don’t love the Lord and His appearing, though everything may look fine outwardly, when the Lord returns we will be chastened dispensationally, for we will not receive the reward.

May we be warned that the Lord is coming and may we not love the present age but love the Lord and His appearing.

Our attitude should be one of waiting for the Lord’s coming.

It is not just for us to hear about the messages and know about the doctrines – that’s not enough.

We need to wait for the Lord’s coming by loving Him and loving His appearing.

Suppose our master, our manager at work, sends us an email that he returns on a particular date; however, we just archive the message and forget about it.

This is to be an evil slave, for the manager will come and, if he does not find us doing what he wants us to be doing, and if we don’t wait for his return, we will be chastened, or even fired.

Our attitude should be one of expecting the Lord’s return and loving His appearing.

Although we need to do this and that, although we need to take care of many things on earth for our human existence, our eyes are fixed on the Lord, for we eagerly wait for His return.

Lord Jesus, cause us to love You and love Your appearing. Save us from having the attitude of the evil slave who thinks in his heart that the master delays. Dear Lord Jesus, how much we love You! We love Your appearing. We love to be with You and to taste Your appearing. We have to do this and that, and we have to take care of so many things, but our eyes are fixed on You. We just want You to return. Amen, Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to love You more. Increase our love for You. We want to serve You and give food to those in Your household simply because we love You and we love Your appearing. Save us from loving the present age. Make us lovers of God, lovers of the church, and lovers of good. Dear Lord Jesus, we eagerly expect Your return: our eyes are fixed on You, and we want to hasten Your coming!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 5, “The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move,” chs. 7-10, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 ICSC), week 4, entitled, Making ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Being a Faithful and Prudent Slave.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – The Urgent Need for Prayer and the Preaching of the Gospel, article via, Bibles for America.
  – The danger: beating our fellow slaves – mistreating fellow believers, a portion from, Basic Lessons on Service, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – My church life experience: how I was shepherded by the brothers and sisters, sharing via, Living to Him.
  – The word of righteousness: just as the days of Noah were, article in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Properly Discerning Spiritual Authority to Rightly Follow the Lord, article via, A Faithful Word.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Watch, be ready, / We know not the day He comes, / Are your vessels filled with oil? / Are you faithful serving ones? / Let’s go out, to meet Him, / He’s the most precious One, / Turn your heart toward Christ, the Bridegroom, / Whom you love. (Song on, Watch! Be Ready! – the chorus)
  – For His servants Christ will come / And reward each faithful one; / Slothful ones will be undone— / Serve in time! / Make your single talent count, / All self’s problems now surmount, / Serve with Christ, the living fount— / Serve in time! (Hymns #1304, stanza 3)
  – Lord, I recall the many years I’ve waited / For Thy return-yet, Lord, not I alone, / But Thy dear saints through many generations- / Beseeching Thee to come back for Thine own. / To countless tears and countless fervent pleadings, / By Thine appearing haste to make reply. / Oh, may Thou come, the echo of the ages, / Come, come and answer now this mighty corp’rate cry! (Hymns #958 stanza 7)