WHICH DEAL IS BETTER?

Luke 12: 35 -37, 40

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when He comes and knocks, they can immediately open the door for Him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when He comes. Truly I tell you, He will dress Himself to serve, have them recline at the table, and come and wait on them.”

Verse 40, “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.

When I came to the USA, I discovered something called “buy 1 get 1 free.”  And I love “buy 1 get 1 free”, I mean, who doesn’t? However, I also discovered that not every deal is a good bargain. For example, if the store doubles the price of an item and then calls it buy 1 get 1 free, this would be considered a deception. Another example of deception is if I asked you to trade your shoes with mine. So, you will give me your brand-new shoes for my exhausted ones. That wouldn’t be a great deal either. And the intentions of my heart would be revealed without even saying much, based on my offer. So, in this text, Jesus talked to His disciples and told them the truth concerning His return. Without trying to manipulate or trick them, He made them an offer that had two instructions.

The instructions were: “To be dressed ready for service and to keep their lamps burning.” So, I will expand on these instructions to see what Jesus meant in this text.

The first point I had to ask God to help me understand was the relationship between service and lamps, and what those lamps represented. It is important to note that before Jesus started with His unusual teachings, the people at that time lived a self-centered and vengeful life. Their way of service was eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. Their lives were based on greed, multiplication of possessions, inheritance, who would be in charge, etc., which is no different than the people living in the world today.

In Luke 11: 33 -36, Jesus talked to His disciples about the lamp of the body. And in verse 34 He said, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body is also full of light, but when they are unhealthy, your body is also full of darkness” this means that if I’m not looking at the right thing or seeing things correctly, I cannot serve properly. Therefore, it is necessary to keep our lamps burning to serve properly.

So then, how do we keep them burning?

Psalm 119: 105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” So, Jesus not only wants us to pray, but He also wants us to stay in His word. He doesn’t want us to just read it once or memorize it and then forget about it, but to stay in it to keep our eyes healthy, to serve. That explains the problem Jesus had with the experts of the law because their lamps were out. They were unaware because they had no discernment or guidance on how to serve. They thought memorizing the law meant service. However, according to Jesus, their way of service was off. This also reminds us of the parables of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. I’m sure the five foolish virgins wanted to serve and meet the bridegroom on time, but they did not know how to keep their lamps burning.

When we don’t keep our lamps burning, by staying in God’s word, we will not be prepared for His return because we will call good bad and bad good. We will crucify the innocent and reward the wicked, which is exactly what they ended up doing to Jesus. They crucified Him, who was innocent, and released Barabbas, who was a murderer. If that’s the case, everybody needs to serve the right way.

The next point to consider was who the disciples were called to serve, and what that service included. It is important to understand that Jesus wanted His disciples to know that their service was unto Him because it is all about Him. That’s why in Matthew 25: 35 -40 Jesus said,  “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.” And Verse 40 says, “The King will reply, truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.”

In Chapter 12: 35 -38, Jesus said, paraphrasing, If you dress ready for service and keep your lamps burning no matter when I return, then I will be good to you, I will dress Myself to serve you, I’ll make sure you eat well at the table and will come and wait on you. The word “wait” here means to serve. In other words, Jesus was saying, if you make your service about Me, you’ll be blessed. However, if you make it about people, you will miss it. Jesus even warned them in chapter 12 that this kind of service, the one that comes from burning lamps, will cause them persecution, rejection, and hate. However, Jesus told them not to fear people and rulers because He would protect and serve them, and take care of them, including their house. Psalm 91: 14 -16 says, “Because he loves Me, says the Lord, I will rescue him, I’ll protect him for they acknowledge My name. He will call on Me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”

 And in the same chapter verses 4 and 5 Jesus said, “I tell you friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that cannot do more, but I will show you whom you should fear: fear Him who after your body has been killed, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you fear Him.”

Therefore, we understand that serving Jesus demands that we do the right thing according to His word and not get tired in well-doing, no matter what.

And the last point to consider was the meaning of the text as it relates to us today.

Based on the text, Jesus gave us two instructions for His return: Be dressed ready for service unto Him and keep our lamps burning by dwelling in His word for guidance. Therefore, we are all called to serve Him and to be served by Him.

Jesus invites us to choose His way of service and to stay alert by remaining in His word until the end. Though He told us it won’t be easy, He also promised to serve and cover us in this life and beyond. Jesus is not forcing these things upon us, but He wants us to be aware and choose wisely. He wants us to take the time to analyze what the prince of this world offers, which is a careless life with no service to Jesus that leads to affliction and bondage, compared to what He offers, which is service unto Him and keeping our lamps burning that lead to protection, rest, and peace. So, we need to examine to see which bargain is better.

To conclude, I can say that it can be difficult to decide between two offers unless we try both. Otherwise, we will be making decisions based on assumptions. Psalm 34: 8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him,” which means we cannot know God’s goodness unless we taste and see for ourselves.

God is constant in being good, gracious, and faithful, just like the enemy is constant in being tricky, deceitful, and wicked. They are both consistent in what they do. I’m sure we all have tasted the devil because we’ve been tricked and afflicted before.  Therefore, we must taste Jesus completely to see which deal is better.

And if you were to ask me, based on the foolishness I’ve made in life, I would tell you that Jesus’ offer is the best deal ever, and there is none like it. It is even better than “buy 1, get a million free.” He will never disappoint us because the blessing of the Lord indeed makes a person rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.

May God bless you!