Day 63

Luke 12:41–48 (NIV)

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 I tell you the truth, 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 menservants and maidservants 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 “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his 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.

Pray for God to show you something to use from the passage

Read the Passage

Who is in the passage?

What action verbs do you see?

What other words stick out in your mind

Questions

What is harder in being a leader? What is the benefit in leading?

What are the four different types of leaders in this section?

What does the last verse of this section mean for you?

Notes

In verse 1 and 13 we see there is a large crowd around Jesus. Then vs 22 Jesus is talking to his disciple even with the crowd around. So Peter is asking quite naturally, who is this for us or the crowd.

vs 42- Jesus answers his question with parables. The parable is about the leader over the other servants in the house. (hence Jesus is talking right now to the leaders of the church)

vs 43-45 Leaders need to continue to follow Jesus. Don't allow complacency and sin to come into your leadership, that is what happen and has happened to the previous leaders (Ezek 34) Instead of taking care of the people they took advantage of them. They used the authority to abuse the people and also God!

Jesus warning is Do not let this happen to you. It applies to today leaders. Remember the parable of the seed. Some seed starts to grow and is choked out by the things of this world. That is what Jesus is describing. It can happen even to those who are leaders. Unfortunately we see it all the time.

vs 46 The judgment of God is just as harsh on these as the judgment he gave the Pharisee in his woe statements.

vs 47 -48 tells of disciples who don't abuse what God has given them but who either don't follow through with what they know they should or they don't know what to do and do something wrong deserving punishment. These disciple leaders will have a measured response based on what they knew and didn't do.

So you have 4 different disciple leaders spelled out in this section.

First the one who does what is suppose to- they receive good (vs 43)

second one who deliberately does wrong and abuses what od given them for their own good- They receive what all unbelievers receive (vs 46- think Judas)

Third those who know what to do and do not do it or do things that are wrong- They have severe punishment. (vs 47)

Forth are those who don't know what to do and cause things deserving punishment . But because they didn't know they receive less punishment. (vs 48)

The final answer to Peter's question in vs 41 is at the end of 48. The more you are given the more you are responsible for. (the disciples have a great deal of responsibility because they have spent three years with Jesus) Where are you? What are your responsibilities?

The intent of this passage is not to scare people out of leadership. Rather for them to understand while they are leaders they do not own anything or anyone. They are doing it for the glory of God not themselves. They are still servants. The ones who do it well will be richly rewarded, the ones who do it badly will be justly punished. See similar parable in Matt 25:14-30