Matthew 24:45–51

Matthew 24 and 25 are His great prophecy on the mount. They begin with the Jews and end with the Gentiles in Matthew 25:31 to the end. Between these two (from Matthew 24:45 to 25:30) is the part that deals with the Christian profession. So it takes the broad, unrestricted form of three parables, because the link is with Christ Himself, not with the land or the people of Israel.

It is not a question of evangelising here, but of care for the household. The principle of trading outside with the Master's gifts will come later (Matthew 25:14 onwards). But here the great thing is this: the Lord loves His saints ("whose house are we"), and so He makes much of faithful or faithless service within that sphere. Instead of serving Christ in His household, many become the agents of a particular group. Real ministry is from Christ and Him alone. It is not title or position, but doing the work the Lord wishes to be done.

First, then, we have a servant — a faithful and wise servant. All Christians are called to be so, though some specially so. A servant in the house is called to provide good and suitable food for the house. Every Christian shares that in a way, though some are more suited for that work than others. Responsibility is according to privilege.

The servant who is "faithful" to his lord's interests is reliable and worthy of trust. The one who is "wise" is obedient and intelligent. These are surely the two qualities most looked for in a servant.

Faithfulness is worth more than outward, visible success. Wisdom is worth more than the most brilliant gift, as 1 Corinthians 13 shows. There may be much of what passes as success where there is little heart-faithfulness to God. There may be little self-denial, little personal communion with the Lord, little separation from the world and its ways, little true submission to the word of God, and little prayer.

It is not enough to speak correctly from Scripture, or to present a subject with eloquence. The Lord wants ministry that is "meat in due season" — the suitable word, given at the right time, for the needs of those gathered. This is living ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, meeting present needs.

He cares for His household. He has provided plenty of food for their spiritual health and strength, and He has committed this food to His stewards. No servant of His could commit a greater sin than withholding this food from those who need it. And none could do the Lord a greater service than handing it out with diligence.

The word translated "ordain" in Titus 1:5 is kathistemi, meaning to establish, or set up. The same word is translated in different ways elsewhere: in Matthew 24:45 — made ruler; in Luke 12:14 — made judge; in Acts 6:3 — appoint over this matter. It is the word mostly used in connection with appointment to authority. It is interesting to note that every one of these passages refers to God's act.

The thought in this parable is service over the household. The household is made up of those who belong to Christ. They are to receive food at the right time, and the servant, faithful and wise, supplies it. He does it faithfully. When the Lord comes, He sets this faithful and wise servant over all his master's goods. It takes us at once onto entirely new ground. Judaism knows nothing of the ministry spoken of here. It belongs to Christianity.

The Lord clearly looks for faithful and wise stewardship while He is away. He gives one servant the charge of His household. When He comes, He will deal with how that servant handled the trust. Did the servant hand out food at the right time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes! It is His mind and will and grace about His own... Faith and love alone make anyone faithful and wise; they attach the heart to the household through devotion to the Lord. Loving Him leads out to feeding His sheep and His lambs, as the Lord puts it to Peter, restored and reinstated after his fall.

Here, then, we have at once the source and object of all ministry in the house of God. "Whom his lord has made ruler" — this is the source. "To give them meat in due season" — this is the object.

He adds another thing: "Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes." Here we have the service of Christians. We have had the state; now it is the service. We have just to fill up the little place He has put us into. So the promise here is different: "He will make him ruler over all that he has." This is not simply the best of heaven given to us by Christ. It is the kingdom: "you must come and reign with Me." The perfect love of Christ is not satisfied with only ministering to our happiness. All that is His own He makes ours.

Every true believer has a service. The reward of the faithful and wise servant is a higher service, a service over all that belongs to his Lord. Service does not end with this earthly life. There is a service above, and faithful service here fits us for it.

Here is the general principle. Those who are blessed when the Lord comes are marked by constant waiting for Him as something present. They are the ones who reign over all things. What leads the wicked servant into all the mischief is not the denial of the Lord's coming. It is the loss of the sense and present expectation of it.

Here it is working, as distinct from waiting or watching. It is doing Him service, rather than fixing the eyes of the heart on His coming... The Lord does not overlook the service, and God is not unrighteous to forget the work. For that servant whom the Lord on coming shall find so doing, He will set over all that He has. And has He not pledged Himself to act so, He who is Heir of all things? The servant will share in the display of his Lord's glory, if he serves faithfully now, while people slight Him.

The instruction is that there will be some servants actively serving when the Lord comes. It may be our privilege to be here when that moment arrives, and if so, how happy to be found "so doing" at the very moment when He comes to take us to be with Himself. When He comes for us, all opportunities for service here will cease.

It is not a question of evangelizing here, but of care for the household. The principle of trading outside with the Master's gifts will come later (Matthew 25:14 onwards). But here the great thing is this. The Lord loves His saints ("whose house are we"), so He makes much of faithful or faithless service within that sphere... Instead of being Christ's servants in His household, many sink into being agents of a particular body. In such a case it always flows from the church or denomination. Real ministry is from Christ and Him alone.

From verse 45 we have another scene. It is the place where the disciples of that day were really going to be set. It puts them on the ground of responsibility where anyone in that place would stand when the Lord came — Who then is a faithful and wise servant? Their lord made them rulers over his household. We are the household of God, the Son's house. They were to give out food. The result of faithfulness in this is reigning with Christ when He comes: "he will set him over all his possessions" (v. 47).

Here we have the service of Christians... We have just to fill up the little niche He has put us into... This is not Christ serving us the best of heaven. It is the kingdom — "you must come and reign with me." The perfect love of Christ is not satisfied with only serving our happiness. All that is His own He makes ours.

The service of love given to His watching servants seems to be inside the house. It is a private festival that the world won't see. It is love answering to love... But making him ruler of all that he has is a public honour for public service. The master rewards him openly for his faithful service with a place of trust in the kingdom. Both are blessed, but no one would value the second much without the first.

The moment you come to our "doing," you bring in righteous government. That government weighs conduct as it shows in practical facts. Of course there are differences there, and there the lord makes the faithful servant ruler over his household. He gives one a position of rule here, another of rule there, and these are not the same. In Luke 19 the master makes one servant ruler over five cities and another ruler over ten cities.

He will be blessed at the coming of his Master, if found so doing. But there is more. The Lord adds that "he will set him over all his possessions." We get further light here by comparing this with Revelation 2:26. The promise to the one who overcomes in Thyatira was power over the nations. The falling away in Thyatira will mark the time of the coming. His master will promote the servant who stayed true to him in a time of danger, giving him power in kingdom glory.

If there is a "faithful, wise, and blessed servant," there is also "an evil servant." That servant "says in his heart, My lord delays his coming." Mark this. The thought about the delay of the coming starts in the heart of the wicked servant.

"If that servant says in his heart, My lord delays his coming" — this is pretty much the position of the professing church. It is not that people say, He will not come. They simply do not look for Him as something present.

The servant's heart, it turned out, did not want his Lord to return. So he made up his mind that Christ was not coming soon. He did not love His appearing. Why should he? How could he? A quick coming might have cut across some of his plans and projects. He therefore said in his heart, "My Lord delays His coming." But it was a false heart, caught by a device of Satan.

There you have the great danger of the professed servants of Christ in this world. First, he wrongs his fellow servants by seizing a high-handed authority. Authority is right where a man uses it in obedience to Christ... But here it is man's will. The servant takes the place of the Master and begins to beat his fellow servants. Second, along with that, he keeps bad company with the world. It does not say that he is drunk himself, but there is association with the world... Where the thought of the Lord is gone, ministry loses its true character.

We need not say how terribly this has been shown in the history of Christendom. True ministry flows from the risen and glorified Head in the heavens. It builds up the body, blesses souls, and makes the household prosper. Instead of that, we have a false clerical authority, arbitrary rule, a lording it over God's people, a grasping after this world's wealth and power, ease for the flesh, self-indulgence, and personal advancement.

The man is clearly a hypocrite. This is no case of simple ignorance about prophetic teaching. It is what his heart says, whether his views on prophecy are right or wrong... He keeps company with people who live loosely. He is perhaps worse than his company, because of the profession he makes... We easily persuade ourselves of what we want to be true.

This is far more than wrong thoughts about the coming of the Lord, which some believers might hold without this Scripture applying to them... What the Lord judges is not a mistake or a doctrinal blunder. It is the state of the heart — content that Christ should stay away. If we want something great, something men admire, how can we say, "Come"?

Putting off this blessed event brought in all kinds of evil. We may even say that losing it was the ruin of the church in its earthly relations here below. For what is the sign of the evil servant? He says, "My lord delays his coming." That is what brought him "to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with drunkards."

What is the poison in his wrongdoing? What marked him as "that evil servant"? His conduct shows two fatal stains: he beats his fellow servants, and he eats and drinks with drunkards. He lifts himself up in pride over those whom the Lord has placed on the same level as himself. He also joins himself to the world and shares its life. But what marked the looseness and waywardness of his soul? What was inside him led to these outbreaks of evil, for evil never begins in outward conduct of any kind. The mischief is always inside first.

This is not an intellectual system: "the evil servant says in his heart, My lord delays his coming." His own will was part of it. The result was that the will of the flesh showed itself.

The effect is shown in lording it over the fellow servants (hierarchical or clerical assumption in Christ's absence), beating instead of feeding, and dealings and fellowship with the world, eating and drinking with the drunken.

There you have the great danger of the professed servants of Christ in this world. First, wronging the fellow servants by taking an arbitrary place. Authority is right when it is used in obedience to Christ... But here it is man's will, where the servant takes the place of the Master, and begins to beat his fellow servants. Second, along with that, he has evil dealings with the world. It does not say that he is drunk himself, but he keeps company with the world... Where the thought of the Lord is gone, ministry loses its true character. There will be oppression toward those inside, and evil dealings with those outside.

He seizes authority over his fellow servants for himself, and joins himself to people who live loosely. It does not say that he becomes a drunkard, but a man is known by the company he keeps. He is perhaps worse than the company he keeps, because of the claim he makes for himself.

In both cases alike, they lose all sense of God's claims and of the nature of their position, and evil conduct toward their brothers follows. The comparison goes further. The next thing the evil servant does is "to eat and drink with drunkards," and in the other case we have union with "the daughter of a foreign god." Both are alliance with the world. And this is always the moral order: first, relationships with God ignored, then with our brothers, and finally association with the world.

We need not say how dreadfully this has been acted out in the history of Christendom. True ministry flows from the risen and glorified Head in the heavens. It builds up the body, blesses souls, and keeps the household thriving. Instead of that, we have a false clerical authority, arbitrary rule, a lording it over God's heritage, a grasping after this world's wealth and power, bodily ease, self-indulgence, and personal advancement.

It was the evil servant who gave up the blessed hope who became lawless. He said in his heart, "My lord delays his coming." Then he ill-treated his fellow servants, and he also ate and drank with drunkards. Such conduct plainly broke the law of faithfulness and decency in his master's house.

On what does his ruin depend? "In his heart" the evil servant says, "My lord delays." This refers to what is deep and real — the heart's indifference to the coming of the Master. He believes what he likes, and what he likes is that the Lord should delay His coming.

"But if that servant says in his heart, My lord delays his coming" — this is pretty much the position of the professing church. It is not that men say, He will not come. They do not look for Him as a present thing. It is one in the place of a servant who says, "My Lord delays," and then his Lord comes when he does not expect Him.

How sad the soul's state where Christ's coming is unwelcome, and the servant does what his heart likes! In this way the hope loses its separating power, and loses its attraction to Him who is coming and to His word. Violence follows towards his fellow servants, who become annoying to him, while the world and its pleasures become pleasant company. Can any words sketch more vividly the practical ruin of Christendom, whose first symptom was the heart's plea, My Lord delays His coming? This will not hold His coming back. It will only hasten His unexpected arrival. He will punish the servant's disloyalty and give him his portion with the faithless, despite all his boasting in Christian privileges.

We must not confuse the coming in verse 46 with the coming in verse 50. The faithful and wise servant is living in the expectation of his Lord's return. He does all his service in view of that moment, and he longs for it. To the evil servant, the coming is an event both unexpected and unwanted.

Here the Lord treats the servant as a servant, but as an evil one, a hypocrite. He considers himself so too. He says "My Lord" — he is so dealt with — the Lord of that servant. What a lesson for the professing church, and particularly for its hierarchical part! What makes this more striking is that the Lord treats him as the same servant in position. The other servant will be set over all his Lord's goods.

Verses 50-51 show that the "evil servant" here is not a man failing badly yet true underneath. He is a man who is completely false. His Lord will judge him and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites because he is a hypocrite. He is banished under judgment to his own company.

In this way the coming of Christ is a double motive to faithfulness. It encourages the faithful, and it warns the careless servant. The first will say with joyful expectation, "My Lord is at hand, and so I must seek to be diligent before He comes." The second, if he thinks at all, will say, "What will my Lord say if He finds me, at His coming, both careless and unfaithful?"

Verses 50-51 show that the "evil servant" in view is not a man who fails badly and yet is true at heart. He is a man who is completely false. His Lord will judge him and give him his portion with the hypocrites, because he is a hypocrite. Judgment sends him to his own company. When the Lord unmasks and judges the hypocrite, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth indeed.

What does the Lord point to as the occasion, if not the cause, of such a ruinous fall? The evil servant "says to himself, 'My master is delayed.'" No one shows the evil of unfaithfulness more than a faithless man who claims the name of Christ. Here the Lord puts His finger on the heart that sets aside His own coming again as a living, practical truth. Once that hope is dropped, the heart can soon learn to value the world and keep company with it, and to look down on Christ's household and mistreat it.

Here the Lord treats the servant as a servant, but as an evil one, as a hypocrite. The man counts himself a servant too. He says "My Lord" — and he is dealt with on that footing, as the Lord of that servant. What a lesson for the church that professes His name, and especially for its ranks of leaders! What makes this more striking is that the Lord treats him as the same servant, in position, as the other one, who will be made ruler over all his Lord's goods. More than that, He treats him as the same servant, changed in character.

God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and against the unrighteousness of people who hold the truth in unrighteousness. The Jew, if wicked, is worse than the Gentile. The man who professes to be a Christian, if evil, is more guilty than either. His portion will be, not with servants only, but with the hypocrites.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth! We draw attention to this phrase. In the New Testament only Matthew uses it (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30), and always about people who have brushed aside the offer of grace… They will see the very people they looked down on inside the kingdom, together with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets. It is a kingdom they had heard of, but will never enter. So they will weep and gnash their teeth. In that way they will show everlasting sorrow and regret for their folly in rejecting the salvation offered to them in this life.

Scripture tells us that "when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32). Now suppose a believer got his portion with the hypocrites. Suppose he was thrown into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, or into the lake of fire. Would he be condemned with the world? Are outer darkness and the lake of fire not the portion of sinners who never repent? Are these judgments punishment, or correction? God's chastening is always corrective, and there is not an element of punishment in it.