Consider:
I. The work of the servants. And here we observe: (1) That work is the common duty of all in Christ's house. (2) This work of Christ's house is varied to different individuals. (3) Each individual has means for ascertaining his own work.
II. The watch of the porter. The porter must stand at the door of every heart while that heart pursues its work.
III. The bearing of these two duties on each other. If watching were absent work would be: (1) blind and without a purpose; (2) discouraging and tedious; (3) formal and dead. Without work, watching would be: (1) solitary; (2) subject to many temptations; (3) unready for Christ.
J. Ker, Sermons,p. 139.
Christ appointed to His Servants an Authority, a Work, and a Watch.
I. Look first at the Church's authority. The more we serve, and the lowlier the place we take, the more is the authority given. For, what is authority? Not position, not office, but a certain moral power, the power of truth, the power of the affections, the power of virtue over vice, the power of the true over the false, the power of faith over sight, the essential power of the great Head delegated to all His members, which is ultimately to command the universe? It is your authority to feel as a man who, having found true peace with God, goes about with the ennobling consciousness that He is in the possession of an invaluable treasure. It is your authority, though a poor miserable sinner, to wear the badge, and carry the name, and act under the signet of the King of kings. It is your authority, therefore, to go to every man, to every single man under heaven, in the consciousness that you have received a Divine instruction to this effect, and tell that man of the glorious things of the Gospel of Christ.
II. Every man's work is special. The authority was general, the work is specific, for He says, "He gave authority to His servants, and to every man his work." It was very kind of our good Master to give us work to do during His absence. For nothing beguiles the time more. Therefore work. The warrant of your election is, that you work. Woe to the man who thinks to eat his Master's bread and does not work. Woe to the man who would feed upon the promises without the service.
III. In the household of faith, as every man has his ability to work strengthened because he leans upon authority, so every man has his work sweetened by looking at it through the windows of hope, for every workman is a watcher too. There are two ways of watching. There is a watching against a thing we fear, and there is a watching for a thing we love. Most persons when they are told to watch, think chiefly of what they are to watch against; but I conceive it was far more in our Saviour's mind to bid us to be full of what we are to watch for. For, if we watch against sin, is it not for this very reason, because we are watching for Christ? "I keep the door, that no man may come in; because I am keeping it open that there may be room for Him when He comes."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,1874, p. 129.
The Lord's Second Coming.
I. A community of monks was established on the shores of the Bosphorus, during the fourth century, called "the sleepless ones." They numbered three hundred, and were divided into six choirs, who sang alternately day and night; without ceasing, their songs of praise arose to that Divine Redeemer who will one day come to be our Judge. Thus with unflagging diligence they looked out for the return of the Bridegroom. Without following the example of those old monks in their giving up worldly business, and their mistaken notion that they were any better because they wore miserable clothes and denied themselves comfortable food and lodging without following their example in these respects, yet if we are the wise and enlightened generation that we claim to be, we shall give heed to the voice of warning now sounding in the services of Advent, reminding us emphatically that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
II. The image employed in the text, which represents Him as a traveller who has gone into a far country, is one so much in harmony with our human sympathies, that it brings Him very close to our hearts. Jesus has left His people for a season, just as a man leaves his home, to sojourn in a distant land; a man whose letters are devoured with eagerness by the dear ones who are impatiently awaiting his return. The Lord Jesus, for whose coming we are waiting, bids us watch. He only is watching for the Saviour who is zealous in seeking and honouring Him; who daily thinks of his Lord as He came once in great humility, and as He will come again with power and glory.
J. N. Norton, Old Paths,p. 24.
Reference: Mark 13:34-37. R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains,p. 243.