Eating at the Master's Table

Dear Sons and Daughters of the Master,

Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who invites us to sit at table with him. Amen.

Our Lord says, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

The first major test for parents comes during the trials of potty training. It is the first battle of liberation for child but also for the parent. As parents who has recently emerged from this battle victorious, I can attest to the ferocity that I witnessed as our boys learned the art of ditching diapers.

Much patience, determination, praise, and love, go a long way to victory. But above all that which paved the way to VP-Day, Victory of Potty Day, were the treats and the rewards. Parents, you know this well.

During the initial phases of Operation Potty Train, it was the small things that did the trick: telling us they had to go, sitting on the potty. Preforming these steps in the process earned a small treat. Rebecca had taken dozens of bananas and smothered them in chocolate and froze them. So when the boys indicated that they were learning, just like the lab rats in the maze, they received positive reinforcement.

Of course, when I boldly and proudly announced the innumerable times that I had to go, no frozen chocolate covered banana landed in my lap, only a look of scrutiny and a glare that only a wife can give.

As the Operation went on though, Children realize they can milk the system. As a deterrent, the stakes also are raised. Then, finally, at the endgame of the Operation, was the grand prize. Proving they could stay dry and clean without diapers for 10 days awarded them that which they wanted dear.

Since June, we live in a post diaper world now at the Belt house. Gone is the putrid smell of diaper bags. Gone is the constant need to buy wipes and diapers. And with all of it, gone too is the reward. Sure, when they proudly tell us of their bathroom exploits, we smile and tell them good job. But the day is coming when any sort of positive reinforcement will be vacant. Going to the bathroom is something that is just expected of a human being. There is no reward for simply doing what is expected of you. In fact, to be a contributing member of society is its own reward.

“We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”

This is the parable that Jesus tells us today. The parable that Jesus tells us is aimed at killing that which we hold so dear to ourselves and expect God to reward: our good deeds.

Perhaps that is why this is a hard parable to swallow.

You can picture the servant hard at work can you not? This worker pours his heart into all his efforts at his master’s house. He out preforms all the rest of the workers in the house.

When it comes to plowing the fields, this servant gets the most done. He skips over breaks just to get an extra row plowed.

When the servants are keeping sheep out in the pastures, this servant is the most vigilant. He is the first one to scout the terrain and he waits till all the sheep are on the move before he moves on.

When the time for the dinner feast arrives, this hard-working servant comes in, carrying all the aches and pains, the sweat and blood for the many labors he preformed in love toward his master.

For all this work, perhaps he thinks his master will reward him. Come, sit at table with me and enjoy my rest, my feast and my presence because of all the work you have done.

But that is not what happens. Jesus tells us what the master says, “Oh good, you are here. Get out of those sweaty clothes, wash yourself and prepare supper. After I eat, you can have whatever is left.”

Jesus then ends with that shocking rhetorical question, “Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?” The answer that the question begs is no.

This leads Jesus to state the purpose of the parable. When you have done all that you were commanded to do, only say this: “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”

This parable is given to kill that which we all carry within us: pride. The pride that God loves me and rewards me based upon what I do. God will grant us a seat at the feast because we have a better resume than others do.

This parable attacks the thoughts that you will hear from adherents of other religions and those who foolishly claim they adhere to none but say that if there is a God then they know they are good with him because they are good people. But good servants don’t win a spot at the table.

This reminds us that God does not save us based on the works of the law. Now this is really bad news for people who have a lot going for them and are really banking on that carrying them through before God. For those who are really good people, they will come to find that on the last day, they will not be welcome to the feast and the rest of the Master, but rather excluded.

This parable tells us that while good deeds are welcome and necessary for life, and that good deeds are what the master wants in his household, we are yet reminded that all of the good deeds, no matter how well done or how sincere they are, are not salvific. They do not save you. Before mankind, good works are what God expects us to do, that is why there is no reward. The expectation of God is that you will do good works. It is simply how God created you to be. Which means to think, say and do that which is evil is to rebel against how God has made you. Your evil works will merit you death, but your good works do not save. Ouch. It is just the simple fact that God expects you to do them.

Of course, good works are not something we make up either. A lot of people think they can define what good deeds are that they can then present to God. But our God has designed what good works are. God has already defined what love is. This is revealed in the 10 commandments. The law is love. Love is the law.

God expects you to have only Him as your God. That is the good deed above all good deeds. God expects you to honor his name, the Father, Son, and Spirit. God expects you to remember His Word and to keep it Holy. He expects you to honor your parents and other authorities. He expects you to not murder and care for people’s physical needs. He expects you to honor marriage. He expects workers and employers to not steal. He expects you to defend your neighbor’s reputation and put the best construction. God expects you not to covet what has been given to others and not to you.

The reward for doing these things is not a place at the table. The reward for doing the law is the simple fact that God wants it done and it should please us to do them with no reward expected. We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.

That of course leaves us with the question. What gains the Master’s favor? How does one get to eat the feast with the Master? How does one come and enjoy the Master’s rest? They are all the same question.

The answer is this, as long as you are a servant in the house, you will never sit with the Master at the feast. Servants do not belong to a house. But do you know who belongs at the Master’s table? The Children.

The children of the Master eat with him. This is not something that doing good deeds grant. No amount of work can make someone a Son. This is something that someone must be born into. Which is terrifying for mankind. You have no choice in the matter whether or not will be seated with God at feast. All people are God’s creature, but not all people are God’s children.

So who eats at the Master’s table? You do! Yes you, sitting out there right now! You are God’s children, not servants, and will sit with him at table!

There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that you are children. How? Because God, the Father, has told you so himself, and you have heard it with your own ears. Where? At the font. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is how God makes you his child. The making of children, is the work of God done to you now in Christ and this Word that you have heard is what you cling to.

John chapter 1:12- To those who believe in his name, Jesus Christ, God gave the right to become children of God.

- “see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are.

references our Old Testament lesson from Habakkuk. “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.”

- “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

You have been made into a Son of God the day you put on the baptismal waters. You have been birthed into God’s family by his choice. There is no denying or doubting it. No work of yours will include you or exclude you. You are invited to the master’s feast not because you have merited it or earned it, but because Jesus Christ has won for you a spot at the feast.

Jesus himself declares in , “The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

This gift is yours right now. As you wait for the feast to commence, you are guaranteed a spot because you partake of the appetizers now at this table, the very body and blood of Christ himself. You come and sit at this table not as a slave, a slave does not know his master’s business. You come to this table as sons of God.

You receive these gifts through faith in Christ not through your works. You are good before your God because he himself has punched the ticket through the holes in his hands.

In 1518, Luther wrote a series of theses statements called the Heidelberg Disputation. In them, Luther wrote this, “He is not righteous who does much, but he who, without work, believes much in Christ.”

So as you go out in this world living among the other servants and people that God has made, go and knock yourself out with all the work that needs be done. But before the Master, drop the good works. Works guarantee you nothing, no spot at the table, they are only what you are supposed to do. Works done by a servant exclude him from his place at the table.

But before the Father, you have been made a Son through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has sent the Spirit into our hearts who cries out in us, Abba! Father! Your spot at the table is assured, God will dish out to you the rewards because Christ has earned them for you by giving you what is his. Paul writes in , “For our sake, God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Christ we would become the righteousness of God.”

So you also, when you have received all that God will give you, say, “We are your sons, made worthy by the blood the lamb, we have only received all that you have given.” Thanks be to our God, who has made us his Sons and invites you to join with him at table this day. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all human understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.