Today’s passage from Luke Chapter 17:7-10 ends with an interesting message for Jesus who says, servants should not expect to receive thanks from their masters for doing what they were told to do, but rather servants should simply say, “we are unworthy servants, we have only done our duties”.
For those of us, like me, who look the scripture for messages of hope, I just want to point out four things about this passage. Now I address this message to those of us who desire to follow God’s bidding: to love, and to serve others with all their heart, with all their mind, and all their strength. Let me share with you how I think we are blessed by this passage.
A MESSAGE OF INSTRUCTION: WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO OBEY AND TO SERVE?
What Jesus wants to correct in this passage is our attitude towards service and obedience. If our attitude towards service and obedience is because we expect a reward of some sort, as a consequence of our giving, our time, talent, and treasure, for example, then this is actually NOT service, but SELF-SERVICE, isn’t it? It’s not obedience. It’s a transaction between a supplier, which is you, and a buyer, who is God.
Let me ask you, does God own everything or not? I mean, God owns everything, right? And if so, then you can see how silly this mindset is, namely of expecting a reward for our service. We know that whatever we give in service and obedience to God, whatever we offer up — whether it’s our time, our talent, or a treasure, whatever — these all actually come from God. Now, sure, between you and me, your time, your talent, and your treasures, they’re yours, not mine. But between you and God, where do you think these came from?
In short, what we give to God, we really do not own. It already belongs to Him. So what makes us think we ought to be compensated for it? Right? That’s what Jesus wants to teach us, his listeners, in this passage.
WE SHOULD SERVE WILLINGLY AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY BECAUSE WE ARE INDEBTED TO GOD
Second, I think I mentioned in the previous Pathways of Hope message about our motives and bringing good news of hope to others, no matter our giftedness or our lack of it. When we serve God, we must serve with a heart purely aimed at honoring a most powerful, a most compassionate and most forgiving Master who deserves nothing short of our very best effort and energy.
You and I must serve God willingly and wholeheartedly, not so that God would be indebted to us and reward us for it. No, we must serve because we are indebted to God and we owe Him this debt of faithfulness and honor, and it’s a debt we can never, never, ever, ever repay in full. Really.
A SERVANT’S PRAYER IS A PRAYER ASKING FOR INSTRUCTIONS
Thirdly, when Jesus encourages us to pray and intercede unceasingly like He does in several passages in the gospels, He reminds us to have the mindset of a child, asking favors from a father. But mind you, we are not only children of God, we are also servants of a Master and a King. And so we also need to take the attitude of a servant, which Jesus also encourages all of His disciples to adopt. And having the attitude of a servant, our attention and our prayer should be directed to asking God not for favors or rewards, but for what it is that he would want us to do.
A servant’s prayer is a prayer asking for instructions. That’s all it is. A servant’s prayer is a prayer asking for instructions. “Thy will be done” is the attitude of a servant who is ready to do fully what God wills him to do.
GOD CAN NEVER BE OUTDONE IN GENEROSITY
Now finally, the fourth point. This message of Jesus does not mean that God does not reward good and faithful servants. No. In fact, He does. But actually, actually in this passage, it does sound like that, namely, that, you know, by the way, Jesus describes what a servant should or should not expect from his master. But the truth is there is a message of hope to those of us who sacrifice time, energy, and resources to serve those who cannot pay us back. There is a message of hope to those who love the unlovable and who give without counting the cost.
And what’s that message of hope? The message of hope is simply this: God can never be outdone in generosity. And let’s not forget that the word generosity means giving more than what is needed, and giving more than what is deserved.
So when you count the blessings that you have received today, for example, and when you continue to receive blessings from God and you count them, you can only conclude that God has given you more than you need and certainly more than you deserve.
In fact, whether we serve God and our neighbors fully and wholeheartedly or even halfheartedly — in fact, whether we do it at all — God continues to bless us more than we need and more than we deserve. Praise God for this, right? Praise God.
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