DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING
TO LUKE
FRIENDS AND SERVANTS
Luke 17:7-10
7
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.
Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now
and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get
yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and
drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10
So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We
are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"
NIV
We cannot connect these words of Jesus
to anything else he has said or is going to say, so we have to think the
disciples were getting a little impatient for what they expected as rewards when
he overthrew the Romans and set up his new kingdom in Jerusalem. They had not
yet come to grips with the reality of what, where, and when the kingdom of God
would come. In fact, it would not be until years later that John would get the
revelation. However, the point Jesus made was that the servant is unworthy
to sit at the table with the master. This still relates to today because we have nothing to bring to the table. We have nothing to offer to benefit
God. Although we talk about what we do that will benefit or advance the kingdom
of God, as in being the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. We also
talk about being an effective witness, but that is about witnessing of the
grace of God and has nothing to do with how much we do or think we do. If we consider
whatever we do as our duty, rather than as doing so that we will get a reward,
then are thinking correctly. However, on the other hand, Jesus said that he no longer
calls us servants, but friends. The reason is said was a master does not tell
his servants what he is going to do, but he tells his friends, and he has told
us everything. This is why we can say, and sing, we are friends of God. Still,
we have to come to grips with the fact
that we are unworthy of any reward and we should not expect to have a reward even though we know we
will have a reward greater than anything we could imagine. All that we are, all
that we do, and all that we have and will have is because of the grace of God,
and the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Alone, without God, without the work
of Jesus, and without the indwelling of the Spirit, we are but poor lonely
sinners unworthy of the crumbs from the master's table. But, praise God because he
had favor on us, as we say, we can say, we have the unmerited favor of God,
Jesus shed his blood for us, so that our sins are washed away, and forgiven and we
have this favor, this influence of God on our hearts and thus our lives now reflect
his glory. Everything has changed, yet we still have our duty, to follow the call on us, to obey that which we
have been tasked to do, to be the part of the body of Christ that God has determined
for us for His purpose, not ours. He is still God and we are still but his
creation to do his will. Then are we friends and servants?
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