Devotional

HE’S GOT THE GOODS!

 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.

(Mt. 24:47)

When we say that someone’s got the goods, we mean that he can actually deliver. He is not, as they say in Texas, all hat and no cattle. Instead, he is a man of true substance. He has tangible resources at his command, usually in great abundance. Therefore, what he promises, he performs. Moreover, when there’s a pressing need, he’s on everyone’s short list as the go-to guy who can get the job done. He really can help, because his wealth—whether material or spiritual—is really real.

All Christians know that in a world utterly riddled with fakeness, the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE “has the goods.” True forgiveness, true life, true strength, wisdom, protection, and material supply . . . all are his in abundance. He is the treasure, in which all treasures are found.

But here is a related question to ponder: Which of Christ’s many treasures do you think he values most? What, in all this wide world, constitutes the “goodest” of all his goods?

Our text contains the answer. And if you will consider it carefully, you will find—to your great amazement—that it is YOU: his God-given, blood-bought, spiritually re-born, believing, loving, hoping, stumbling, ever-being-picked-up, and sure-to-enter-heaven child.

Now before delving into this further, we do well to remember an unsettling but important preliminary: Once—prior to your new birth—you were Satan’s goods. And there was no possession on earth he valued more. Why? Because in and through you he could accomplish every one of his most cherished objectives: usurping God, dishonoring God, and wounding God by deceiving, manipulating, and hopefully destroying the creatures nearest to God’s nature and dearest to God’s heart.

As our Lord himself put it, “How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house” (Mt. 12:29).

There you have it in a nutshell: Previously, the saints were Satan’s goods.  But now God has sent his Son into the world, so that—through the whole mighty apparatus of his redemptive work—he might “plunder” Satan’s goods, making them his own.

In passing, let me also say that for many of us there was a time when we were not only Satan’s goods, but also the goods of Satan’s people.

This sobering truth is highlighted in Jesus’ Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers. When the heavenly Landowner saw that his vicious hirelings refused to heed his prophetic servants, he decided to send his son, saying “Surely they will respect him!”

But what did the wicked vinedressers say? “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance” (Mt. 21:38)!

Now there’s a passage to send ice through your veins. It warns us all that the world is full of smooth religious operators who want US as their goods, US as their inheritance! And so it has been for many of God’s elect, who were desperately deceived by the charismatic “strength” of wicked religious men, until One stronger than the strong man—opening prison doors (and blind eyes as well)—plundered his goods!

All of which brings me to our text. It too comes from a Holy Week parable, the Parable of the Talents. The words are those of the returning Christ, spoken to his faithful ministers, granting them servant-leadership among the flock of God in the days of the consummated Kingdom.

But my interest here lies not in the saint’s reward, but in the saints identity. Who are they? They are Christ’s “goods.” They are his special treasure. They are the only things in all the universe valuable enough, and divinely owned enough, to have passed safely through the fires of judgment, so that they might remain forever at his side—forever in his keeping—in the great treasury of the Kingdom of God.

But why, in that happy Day, WILL Christ have the goods? It is because, even now, he HAS the goods! They are absolutely his. God absolutely gave them to him before the foundation of the world. Christ absolutely bought them with his precious blood. And the Spirit absolutely calls them and keeps them, so that nothing can snatch them out of his hand.

Yes, for time and eternity, our gracious, loving, and almighty Lord Jesus Christ has the goods.

And the Spirit and the Bride delight to say, “How good it is!”

OVERCOVER AGENTS

For over all the glory there will be a covering.

(Isaiah 4:5)

If ever my son asks me to define, in a single word, the essence of manhood, I think I’ll be ready. I’ll take him to Isaiah, read him this enigmatic prophecy of the coming Kingdom of God, and underline the one crucial word: covering.

But I’ll have to explain that I didn’t actually learn the lesson reading Isaiah. I learned it when an unexpected providence made me manager of our local Christian bookstore.

Suddenly, a callow young man with neither business nor administrative experience found himself responsible not only for the smooth and profitable operation of a thriving store, but also for the guidance and safety of several other dedicated employees—all of whom happened to ladies!

Looking back, it seems to me that somehow, in my day-to-day relationship with these women, God quietly but unalterably granted me a revelation of the gist of manhood: to be a man, I discovered, was to stand for the Father in his world, and to cover—that is, to protect and provide for—the creatures he entrusts to our care, especially women and children.

The revelation came, I am sure, in the little things: figuring out how to schedule lunches or days off so that the ladies wouldn’t get needlessly tired or miss events that were important to them; sending them home sick, even when they wanted to stay; lifting heavy boxes from their arms; stepping in between them and difficult customers; even coaxing the owner to give them a raise!

And what was the payoff in all these little chivalries? Well, beyond the love and respect of my staff, it was simply this: I experienced my manhood. Why? Because I experienced my God covering these women through me, his man. Having granted me a small stewardship of his authority and loving oversight, he fulfilled me as a man.

If we are Christians, the Kingdom that Isaiah foresaw is here, though we do indeed groan till it appears in fullness. Therefore, over all our assemblies —over our personal walk with Christ, our home, our place of work, our church, our chosen sphere of service in the community—a glory should be seen: an orderliness, an integrity, a beauty, a holy joy.

But it can only be seen if there is a covering over the glory.

And there can only be a covering if God can get his men.

Father, you know how difficult it is for men to be men, especially in our day when the world has turned gender roles upside down. You know how difficult it is to lead when we would rather follow; to stand and fight when we would rather run. At a time when so many have been abandoned by the men in their lives, help your sons to become “overcover agents.” Help us more and more to provide and protect, whether spiritually or physically; to cover the weaker vessels whom you are pleased to entrust to our care. In the Name of Him who showed us the way. Amen.