What God doesn't want you to know...
Text: Matthew 24:36-51
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Brian French
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2025 CrossTalk Global
Brian: No one likes uncertainty, but it has invaded almost every crevice of our lives. In our health, sudden illnesses or accidents strike without notice. In relationships, breakups or family conflicts are all too common. In careers, economic fluctuations and company restructuring can affect us all. Natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and fires change countless lives. And international events such as political changes, wars and pandemics introduce uncertainty on a global scale. This is why we are drawn to the God of the Bible. Here we find certainty. We know for sure that he is a holy, loving God. We can be assured that we have salvation through our faith in Christ's finished work on the cross. We know Jesus is returning for us, and we will dwell with him forever. But would you like to know what God doesn't want you to know? Join Nathan Norman, Vicki Hitchkiss, and Kent Edwards as they discover in Matthew 24, verses 36 to 51 what God doesn't want you to know and why. Welcome to crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all our lives. I'm Brian French. Today, Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitchkiss, and Nathan Norman continue their discussion through the Gospel of Matthew. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Matthew, chapter 24, verses 36 to 51, as we join their discussion.
Kent: Nathan? Vicki, what are some things you would like to know with certainty?
Vicki: What's going to happen to the stock market?
Nathan: Yes, listen, I'm telling you, when I was young, like 16 or so, I was in physical therapy and the Internet was just a new fangled thing. And I was talking to my physical therapist about this ebay site where you could bid on things, and he was like, what? I was like, yeah, go on, look at it. It's pretty cool. I don't have a credit card, so I could just kind of browse. And he came back like maybe two weeks later and he said, I'm glad I listened to you. I said, what do you mean? He said, I bought stock in that ebay company of yours, right? And he bought it at like, I don't know, a $2, and it had shot up to $26 within two weeks after he bought it, Right? Wouldn't you like to have that? I mean, that's the only time it's ever happened in my life. Wouldn't you like to have that knowledge? I would like to know about, you know, coming natural disasters so I can avoid them, but also to be prepared for them so I can offer help, situations and relief to people.
Kent: I'd like to know when I'm going to get fatally sick. That would be convenient.
Vicki: Yeah, that's a cheery thought.
Nathan: What a positive attitude. Wet. Not if. When you're going to be fatally sick.
Kent: Well, I've run the stats and I'm pretty sure every. Everyone is perfectly healthy till they're not. And death seems to be pretty universal, so it would kind of be helpful to know. That would help with some of the planning involved. But there's a lot of uncertainty in all of life. There's no questions. And as Christians, we're fortunate. There are many things we are certain of. And Brian mentioned some of that in the introduction. Our podcast a couple of weeks ago, we learn that we could be certain of the return of Christ, as Jesus himself quotes the prophet Isaiah.
Vicki: Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken then. Boy, this makes your thing about wanting to know when you're going to die seem kind of happy. The. The stars will fall from the sky, the heavenly bodies will be shaken, then all the peoples of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Kent: That's encouraging, isn't it? Isn't that great news?
Nathan: It is, but it's a bit vague.
Kent: What do you mean, vague?
Nathan: Immediately after the distress of those days, the Son of Man will return. Okay, when? Yeah, I want to know. When are we talking? You know, today. You know, my lifetime, my kid's lifetime, my grandkids lifetime. It's my great grandkids lifetime. I can write a letter, right? Let them know. Hey, just so you know.
Kent: Yeah, well, because this was written a couple thousand years ago, so it hasn't happened yet. I just wish it was more specific. I mean, it's hard to get ready for a dinner guest when you don't know when they're coming. Right? Right. Breakfast, lunch, dinner this week, next week. That's kind of awkward. It's hard to get ready for a dinner guest. It's harder to get ready for our Savior. We have no idea when he's arriving.
Vicki: I think it's interesting even Jesus didn't know because it said about that day or hour, no one knows. This is Jesus talking. He says, not even the angels in heave, nor the Son, only the Father.
Kent: Wow. So it's a big secret. And no one knows exactly when that's going to happen. I suppose this shouldn't entirely surprise us because God often brings down judgment on people unexpectedly, doesn't he?
Vicki: Well, it's happened before. It says, as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Wow.
Kent: So God's judgment is sure, but unexpected.
Vicki: Sure, but unexpected. Yep.
Kent: Why do we want to know the exact time and date of Jesus return? Why is it so important for us? Because you know how many people have tried to guess the exact date of Jesus return?
Vicki: Oh, a bunch. Yeah.
Kent: Oh, man.
Nathan: And you point the people to this text and they go, well, but you can tell it.
Vicki: They say you can tell it. Yeah, right.
Nathan: They'll say, well, the day or the hour, but maybe the month. Right? Like, that's not what Jesus is saying here. He's saying, you're not going to know. I remember when I was in seminary, I had like some mag. I had a Hebrew and a Greek test that were both major in this week, where this false teacher, who I'm not even going to dignify with his name was, was predicting that the end was going to come.
Kent: Okay.
Nathan: And I just remember going like, this guy had already been wrong like four times before. And he had a billboard. He's from New York right where I'm at. He was just around the corner from where I'm living right now. But he had a billboard all the way in California. And his huge billboard that said, this is the day the Bible guarantees it. And I remember being like, absolutely, it's not going to happen, but if it did, it'd be great because I wouldn't have to take either of these tests.
Kent: I remember in a school I was teaching at, there was a professor there and he told me the name of the denomination he belonged to. And I said, oh, I've heard that one before. Well, it turns out the founder was also very clear of when Jesus was going to return.
Nathan: Oh.
Kent: And so he set up the date and all the followers all gathered on the hill on the sacred day in the morning. And guess what? There was only one person that didn't show up and that was Jesus.
Vicki: Oh, oh, oh.
Kent: So he had to go back and recalculate and. And so he had another date. And so again, everyone Got all hyped up and gathered. I don't think there were quite as many people on the top of a hill this time as there were the first time, but quite a few. And again, Jesus didn't accept the invitation. So I believe he tried a third time. And after that, like, people just kind of walked away. So there wasn't much left of this denomination. And I kind of wondered, dude, why are you part of that denomination if it's founded on knowing?
Vicki: If it says we will not know.
Kent: We will not know.
Vicki: We do not know. Yeah.
Kent: I wonder why is it so important to us? Think back when we were teenagers and maybe had some friends over to our house in the evening, why did we want to know precisely when our parents would come home that night?
Vicki: You got in more trouble than I did.
Kent: Is that possible? Why do you want to know precisely?
Nathan: So you could stop doing all the bad stuff you were doing. Oh, and you had enough of a window so you know, you don't have to have a lookout either. So that they're like, hey, they're coming and they're gonna have to scatter, go out the back door into the nights just to hide away from mom and dad. Yeah, yeah. You can do whatever you want to do right up to the point where they're doing bad stuff. Then you clean everything up and you, you know, you act like you've been perfect as wind driven snow.
Kent: Yeah. So we want to know the precise time so that we can do what we want, do what is wrong, as long as we can without paying the consequences. Right?
Nathan: Yeah.
Kent: And maybe that's why God doesn't tell us the exact time and date.
Vicki: Maybe. So you two theologians, what it says is therefore keep watch because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you must also be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. That's an interesting example.
Kent: So he's going to sneak up on us when we don't know. How does it make you feel? What mood does that create?
Nathan: There's some sort of, some amount of anxiety, but kind of an alertness. Right. If I. Going back to the teenager metaphor, if I don't know when my parents are coming home, I'm probably not throwing a party at all.
Kent: Right.
Nathan: And I'm probably not going to get into too much trouble because they could show up at any time, especially my house. They just like the way the house was situated. They drove up, they came into the house, the door was open, opening. By the time you knew they were home, you didn't have any. Any heads up unless you had a lookout. Not that we ever did that. Mom and dad, if you're listening.
Vicki: That'S such a negative illustration. Is comparing Christ to a thief coming to break in. It's a funky illustration.
Kent: Jesus gives it.
Vicki: I know. And he gives it the exact opposite illustration. My nephew was a really good student and he loved going to school. And when he was in kindergarten or the first grade, he knew that his teacher was going to come because she came and visited every single kid. And he was so excited that he got up in the middle of the night and he made his bed and he made it perfectly. And he put on his school clothes and he lay on top of his bed waiting for her to come. Just so excited. And I think that's the way we're supposed to be on our best behavior. Ready? Ready. Ready for God to come.
Kent: Yeah.
Vicki: Not like a bunch of drunk teenagers.
Kent: I never mentioned drunk.
Nathan: Yeah, well, the implication was clear. Or to your point, Vicki. Or like a homeowner who's afraid his house is about to get broken into. Right?
Vicki: Yeah.
Nathan: And that's what Jesus chooses to use the metaphor. I am coming in and I'm taking over. You better be ready.
Kent: Yep. A spot check. Unplanned audit.
Nathan: Oh, that's even worse. A member of the irs.
Kent: Jesus will carry that generalized emotion to four concrete applications. He's going to conduct four unexpected unscheduled examinations of our lives. That's what he says is coming. We're going to look just at the first one on his list today. In future weeks, we'll cover the rest. But this one, like all the others, is in the form of a parable. Let's take a look at the first half of this short story.
Vicki: He says in 45. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly, I tell you, he will put him in charge of all of his possessions.
Kent: Okay, let's try to understand what we've just read. There is a master and a wise servant who's placed in charge over the other household servants. Who is the master?
Vicki: I'm assuming that's Jesus.
Kent: Okay. Who's the wise servant?
Vicki: I'm assuming That's a Christian, that's obedient.
Kent: But he is in charge of what? Oh, that'd be a pastor, a leader of some kind. Right, okay, so a wise servant is someone who's in charge of others, because then there's the household servants. Okay, so there's a pecking order. Master, wise servant, household servants. Okay, what's the job of the wise.
Vicki: Servant in this story? The wise servant is supposed to feed the other servants.
Kent: Okay, so feeding them, that's acting in their best interests, right?
Vicki: Caring for them, taking care of them.
Kent: And the master's going away. According to verse 46 and 47, what will happen to the wise servant if the master returns and finds him properly feeding the servants?
Vicki: He's going to get put in charge of all the master's possessions.
Kent: Ah, so he gets an elevated position.
Vicki: Right, right, right.
Kent: So he faces a great reward if that happens. Okay, but story takes a bit of a twist.
Vicki: In 48, it says, but suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, my master's staying away a long time. And then he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 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 hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Kent: Wow. Now the mood changed in this story, didn't it?
Vicki: I would say it did.
Kent: The servant in charge started acting as if the master would never return. He abused his fellow servants. He used his authority to harm them, not to help them. Right. This guy began to eat and drink with drunkards. This isn't celebratory wine at the wedding in Cana In John chapter 2, this describes an ongoing lifestyle of debauchery, doesn't it?
Nathan: Oh, yeah. Well, because he's beaten the servants, you know, and he's obviously not managing his master's property well.
Kent: And by the way, what is the primary task the chief servant was given?
Vicki: To feed the other servants.
Kent: And he doesn't. And he does the opposite. And at a day and an hour he doesn't expect, the master returns. And do you remember what happened? Verse 51?
Nathan: Oh, gosh, it's awful. He cuts him to pieces and assigns him a place with the hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The hypocrites being actors, so people pretending to be something that they're not.
Kent: Does that remind you of anything? We looked at in Matthew 23.
Nathan: No, it's hell.
Kent: Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. We saw at that time, woe is a pronunciation of judgment of hell. Go to hell, you people. He's talking about the leaders of the Church of Christ. And when I come back, I want to do an audit. And I'm going to audit you. I'm going to reward or punish you according to what you have been doing. Not what you pretended to clean up at the very end, but how you have done the ministry I have entrusted to you. It's interesting if I think of what that looks like today, the goal of the master in giving the servant this responsibility was they are to be feeding the people under their control. They were to be spiritually nurturing. Correct?
Vicki: Right. That's a good way to put it. Spiritually nurturing.
Kent: Okay, so what does that look like today? If you're a leader, and that could be a leader of a congregation of a denomination, a small group, Sunday school.
Nathan: Class, whatever that is, Bible study, prayer group, family.
Kent: What does it mean to spiritually nurture the people under your career?
Vicki: Well, I think the foremost thing is you would be teaching them the Bible and you would be modeling the Bible.
Kent: Yeah, I mean, that's the most obvious, I think, application, because this is the word of God. Man does not live by bread alone, but in every word that comes from God.
Nathan: Right. You know, you have. The leader should be equipping everyone else to fulfill what God has called them to do. So empowering them, empowering to fulfill ministry based on their skill sets and their gifting. Praying for others and listening to them.
Vicki: Counseling them when they're hurting.
Kent: Especially as pastors, but as anyone in a congregation, we get to know people on the most significant days of their lives. Right. Where often, sometimes we have the privilege of being called to the hospital. When a baby is born, we are called to come. When that child wants to know how to accept Christ as their savior, we have opportunity to build into life. Then we've got opportunity to build into their life, and they choose to get married, we get to build into their life. When they're on their deathbed, we have the opportunity to nurture them and care for them through every stage of life. That's a good shepherd. That is a good servant. But if that's what it means to be spiritually nurturing, what does it mean to be a spiritual abuser?
Nathan: I know you want to get into the specifics, but I can't help but share a story. I'll keep names left off to protect the identity of the guilty. But I was serving as a pastor at a church, and one of the previous pastors had said, oh, can we go out? He was in the area, can we go out for lunch? Sure. And he said to me at lunch, he said, how are they treating you? I said, they're treating me fine. You know, it's great. Great community, great congregation. He says, oh, I'm so glad to hear that. When I was there, they were terrible. That church didn't know how to serve their pastor. No word for word, that church didn't know how to serve their pastor. And so of course, I went back and I told some of the staff that had been there under his regime. I use that word specifically. And they told me he expected somebody to take him out to lunch at least once a week and after church every Sunday.
Kent: Wow.
Nathan: That's what he expected. If they didn't do that, he would be passive aggressive about them not serving him.
Kent: Wow.
Nathan: Right? So here you have the story, right? The servant is supposed to be feeding the other servants, and here he is demanding to be fed. Literally, literally, Literally. And it's not like they weren't paying him anything. I saw the budgets, the historical budgets, paying them better than they're paying me anyhow. Right? So. But you have something like that. You have someone who is not preaching, or they're at least not preaching the word of God accurately.
Kent: Right.
Nathan: Or selfishly or self serving or even serving for the organization and not to the glory of God and for the good of the people.
Kent: That's easy to do.
Nathan: It sure is.
Kent: Someone who doesn't actually care about the people that so and so is struggling. Okay, but do I have to go? Does it have to be my day off? Somebody who is much more concerned about their performance on Sunday than they are in their actions during the week. How many times have we seen spiritual abusers in their own personal moral life hurt, if not destroy their church?
Nathan: I can't tell you how many times I've heard people unasked for by me as they're telling about a pastor that they served under. And they're like, oh, we wanted to serve. And what we realized was that the man on the stage was not the person that we were working with.
Kent: Hmm. Big difference between image and reality. Yeah. How can we know if we are generally nurturing leaders? What evidence, what results should we be seeing in the people that we have influence over?
Vicki: You'll see good or bad. You'll see a congregation just like you do when you're a parent, you'll see a congregation that reflects you. And if you're a loving pastor, you'll see. I keep going back to pastor, but you'll see a loving pastor, a loving family, a loving. Whoever you're in charge of study group. If you're a loving person, you'll have a loving group under you. If you're a kind person, if you're a giving person, they'll model you. And if you show them the way the Lord wants you to act, they'll model that.
Nathan: I remember Gary McIntosh sitting at his class, and we've interviewed him on the show before, and I think he said in seminary, he said, like, the church takes on the character and the personality of the pastor after he's been there about five years.
Vicki: Yes.
Nathan: And that horrified me.
Vicki: It shouldn't.
Nathan: Well, it does. No, it still does. I know my hangups. I know my struggles. You know, I know my. I don't want anyone to live with this. I want better for them. Yes. To answer your question, how do you know if you're genuinely nurturing leaders? What results evidence should we see? I think Vicki started off well. They're loving. I think there is a compassionate hatred for sin. And I say compassionate because it's not like, hey, we're going to beat up people who said, no, my own sin, I don't like it. I think you're going to see a congregation that sees itself or a small group or a family that sees itself as a family. That is the image the Bible gives us the most. We're not a corporation. We're not an organization. We're not a business. Yeah, There are some aspects of all of those things within any group, but we see ourselves as a family. We care for each other. We love each other. Love covers over a multitude of sins, meaning small offenses that annoy me. I'm just going to deal with that. That's Bobby. And we're just going to deal with Bobby's weird, but I think it also will deal with serious issues. You know, if you have hidden sin that comes out, you know, like severe alcoholism or abuse that's happening in the family or sexual abuse, that the leader is doing that, that group will rise up and say, nope, we're not going to tolerate that and allow the person to step down and take whatever appropriate measures are required.
Kent: Yeah, Jesus. Unexpected arrival will surprise all the leaders. And spiritual authority comes with accountability. It's not enough to say the people I serve are satisfied. The question is, is Jesus pleased with how you and I are treating nurturing his children. And if we fail in that task, he will cut them to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Nathan: Just a point about the weeping and gnashing of teeth. The weeping is kind of obvious, like, oh man, this is horrible. I don't like the situation I'm in. But the gnashing of teeth, which often we think of as additional weeping or torture or torment. That gnashing of teeth, that's the image of like a dog on a chain trying to rip you to pieces, right? The gnashing of teeth. It's a Semitic metaphor of hatred, of revulsion. I don't like being in this place, the weeping, but I hate you and I want nothing to do with you. The gnashing of teeth, right? So it's not like these people are like, oh, I wish I'd made different changes. They're like, I hate my situation and I hate you, too.
Kent: Wow. Nobody enjoys uncertainty, but there's no avoiding it, even for the Christian. We are sure that Jesus will come again, but nobody knows when that will be. So Jesus is telling us, warning us, as leaders of God's people, we've got to be in a constant state of readiness. We've got to prepare for an inspection at all times. In this case, I think uncertainty. I think it's a good thing because it motivates me to do the ministry I know God's children deserve.
Brian: How can we as leaders be prepared for the eternal consequences of the unexpected return of Christ? We only can if we treat our fellow servants with the care with which God has entrusted to us. While we wait for Christ, our role is to nurture his people. I trust that today's discussion of God's Word has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers. Together, let's bring God's Word to life to our lives. This week, the crosstalk Podcast is a production of crosstalk Global, equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more about this educational nonprofit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. our next crosstalk events are happening in Salina, Kansas and New England. Help us train the next generation of biblical communicators. All you have to do is click donate in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by rating it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're enjoying it. Be sure to listen next Friday as we continue our discussion of the Gospel of Matthew. You won't want to miss it.
Nathan: Hit the wrong buttons here. Okay. No one likes uncertainty, but it has invaded almost every crevice of our lives. Wow. That's a horrible way of putting that crevice. But would you like to know what God doesn't want you to know?
Vicki: What Eve did. Look what happened to her.
Nathan: Lot'S wife, you know. Join Nathan Oring, Vicki Hitchkes, and Kent Edwards as they Discover in Matthew 24:36 through 51 what God doesn't want you to know and why.