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This text gives us a promise of a blessing from our Lord. We all look forward to a blessing as it is a very good reward and if it comes from our Lord Jesus Christ, we know it must be a great thing. The blessings from God go beyond our understanding, but we know in part that we can relate this blessing to Eternal life, to be given to those who are prepared when our Lord does come again to this earth. John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

There are two obligations that fall on us. One is to be a servant, who commits himself to serve the Lord.  Now to serve the Lord then extends to serving those that are the Lord’s. This is done individually or to co-ordinate a united effort, it is done in what we call the Church, the mystical body of Christ. The Apostle Paul learnt this lesson as he was persecuting the Church and its members, when the Lord called him at his conversion and asked him the question “Saul, Saul, why persecutes! thou me?” We see clearly, when we have made a commitment, we must spend our life as a servant in the Church, that body of Christ. It is like a journey we then begin in our lives, that takes us towards our destination, the Lord. The second obligation is to be found so doing at all times. Doing what? Of course, the short answer is doing the will of our Lord in our life. There would not be enough paper to record all of the things that we could be doing for the Lord. They range from attending service, and more importantly joining in, the singing, choirs, youth chorus, youth work, children’s activities, visiting the sick, praying, helping the poor, praying for those in need, keeping the places of worship clean, using the gifts we have been given by the Lord to help, mission work, teaching, helping in the service, making suggestions, open debate on ongoing  matters and the list goes on and on. The Church must be a living body of people, all doing something at all times, helping to keep moving on that journey towards the Lord.

I read an interesting article on the early journeys by the pioneers of this country, which were done by Cobb & Co. Coaches, that relates to our attitude to the journey of the Church and to our text. To go on that journey firstly a ticket had to be purchased. There were three classes of tickets. First-class, second-class and third-class. The holders of the first-class ticket had the free choice of which seat on the coach they occupied. When it stopped at a Way Station, they were seated at a table and food was served to them. If along the way a wheel came loose or fell off, they were given a seat under a shady tree until the coach was fixed. The second-class ticket holders had the next choice of seats, at the Way Station they had to stand and eat their food and if a break-down, could stand around in the shade. The third-class ticket holders were happy to sit where there was room left, at the Way Station they had to cook the food and serve others and if the coach broke-down, they had to help repair it so that it could continue on its journey. If we relate this to the Church’s journey, especially our text, it should be very easy to see what ticket our Lord wishes us to have when He returns.