An Unworthy Servant

Passage of Scripture: Luke 17: 7-10

Context

Jesus has been giving a string of parables on the Kingdom of Heaven. Ch. 17 begins with Jesus' admonition to avoid causing a brother to sin (vv. 1-2), followed by his instructions to forgive your brother as often as he requests forgiveness (vv. 3-4). Recognizing their inability to follow Jesus' commands, they ask Jesus to increase their faith (v. 5).

I. Quantity of faith was not the disciples' main problem.

A. Most people assume that Jesus is telling the disciples that they have even less faith than a mustard seed. But there's a better explanation that ties together these seemingly unrelated passages.

1. Jesus doesn't grant their request. If quantity of faith was the issue, and the disciples' request was legitimate, why wouldn't Jesus have granted their request?

2. Jesus' response (that even a tiny amount of faith could accomplish much greater things) seems to indicate that this was not fundamentally an issue of the quantity of their faith.

3. Instead, Jesus turns the focus on the nature of the relationship of a disciple to God.

B. Their problem is not insufficient faith, but a deficient understanding of their status before God.

II. First and foremost, we are God's servants. (vv. 7-10)

A. Background on Slavery

1. δούλος "slave, or bondservant"

2. Very common in 1st century Roman Empire

3. Some estimate >40% of Rome's population were slaves.

4. People became slaves through military conquest, the penal system, or by selling themselves into slavery to gain a better life.

5. Slaves served in a variety of roles

B. Cultural Understanding

1. A "fact of life" taken for granted by Jesus' disciples and everyone else

2. Slaves had no rights, but had many expectations

3. Jesus is not endorsing slavery, but merely using a common example that they would be familiar with to illustrates hat is expected of a disciple.

4. A modern example: "Does the IRS reward and congratulate you for paying your taxes?"

III. Applications

A. While our service to God may seem impressive, all of us are, at best, unworthy servants.

1. It would seem quite impressive to see someone command a mulberry tree or a mountain to jump into the sea.

2. American culture tells us to reward and praise those who do a good job, especially those who go above and beyond. We expect a reward for our service.

3. That which we admire in other believers is merely God's expectation of us.

4. But on a bad day, we are disobedient slaves. The disciples' problem is the same as ours--we have sufficient quantity of faith, what we lack is a proper understanding of who we are in relation to God.

B. The Gospel is not about us, but about God.

1. The "good news" of the gospel is NOT that God gets us, but that we get God! It's not even that we escape Hell and live in eternal bliss, it's that we get to spend eternity in God's presence.

2. A shadow of this is seen in the inheritance of Levi in the Old Covenant. "I will be your inheritance..."

C. This ought to vastly affect how we approach God.

1. We are twice owned, once by creation and once through redemption. I Cor. 6:19-20

2. How does a slave address his master? With a list of requests and demands?

a. Prayers ought to be centered on making ourselves available to do God's will.

b. "What is YOUR will for me today? How can I advance YOUR kingdom agenda today? Who can I SERVE today?"

c. Is more honor bestowed upon one slave than another because of his occupation? Of course not! We are all expected to obey God in whatever he calls us to do.

D. But, we are not merely slaves

1. Consider that before our redemption, we were slaves of Satan. God redeemed us and gave us the ability to do right.

a. John 8:31-36

b. Romans 6 (esp. vv. 15-23)

c. True freedom is found in slavery to Christ

2. More than just making us slaves of a new master, God adopts us as sons and calls us "friend"

a. John 15:12-17

b. Notice that our friendship with God does not negate our service to him, but rather reinforces it.

c. Romans 8:14-17

Conclusion

Viewing ourselves as servants of God helps to put us in our proper place before the Almighty. It gives us a sense of humility, dependence, and deference that we greatly need when approaching our God. Yet, that understanding also provides a better understanding for how astounding it is that God does not look upon us merely as slaves, but as sons and daughters!