A Servant of God
Series: Encountering Jesus (through the Gospel of Luke)
Brad Bailey – November 24, 2019
Series #48 / Luke 17:1-10
Intro
Throughout the recent weeks …in which there has been a public impeachment hearing… there has been a lot of reference to the phrase… “Abuse of Power.”
We are not going to engage this assessment of our president.
Today…Jesus brings his own inquiry about abuse of power…and he brings it to everyone…to us.
We are continuing in our extended series… Encountering Jesus through the Gospel of Luke.
Through the Gospel of Luke… repeatedly Jesus has been dealing with a problem with the religious leaders…particularly the Pharisees’ lives and their teaching. They were the religiously respected…but they were actually not truly serving God. They were serving their reputation.
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They were false spiritual shepherds… leading people astray….abusing their power.
And now Jesus turns to those he is calling … his disciples…and all of us here today. And he speaks to what a true servant of God must understand.
So lets take a moment to pray… open our hearts to hear.
[PRAYER]
Luke 17:1-10 (NIV) ?1 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." 5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. 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.'"
To hear what Jesus is saying…it helps to realize again…that it is the nature of the religious leaders that is in the background of Jesus’ words.
There were sitting in the position of being shepherds of the people… but they were abusing the power that they held.
This was a significant issue which God had confronted through the prophets of Israel… denouncing that the religious leaders were not the good shepherds …and that he would send one who would be the good shepherds. That is why Jesus is referred to as the good shepherd… the true shepherd of the soul.
But if we simply deem the religious leaders as the bad group we can denounce… we will never hear what Jesus is saying. He is speaking about everyone.
They represent those who have been given positions of power…and that accentuates the problem…but the problem is not simply in the formality of the position… but in the way that power itself is used.
The very reason he used them as an example was to confront a problem that must be confronted and radically transformed.
Apart from living in relationship to God, power in this world is corrupted. It will be used in self-serving ways.
The power that flows from God…. is that which will serve the God designed good of others.
This is what Jesus fulfilled and then called out in all who follow.
• As revolutionary as any aspect of Jesus …is that he didn’t simply redistribute power… he redefined it.
• Those who lead…are those who serve.
• He came not to be served but to serve…and he calls all who follow to be servants of God and God’s desire for other people.
• Leadership…is servant leadership.
Jesus brings three qualities to bear.
1 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Jesus clearly has in His mind the Pharisees, who by their teaching and their lives are doing what? They’re leading those who need leadership…away from God.
Jesus had already noted that the Pharisees were not only refusing to enter the kingdom but were also keeping others from entering (Luke 11:52).
Have you ever thought that what you chose to do and say and how you live could actually lead someone astray, eternally astray?
Jesus says that the way you should feel about leading people away from God… is that you would prefer having one of the large millstones used for grinding bread… take you to the bottom of the ocean.
Now Jesus makes something clear… there will be other negative forces at work… just be sure you are not one of them.
In other words…you are not in control of other people’s circumstances… or what others choose to do….but you do have influence.
The first thing Jesus wants then and us to understand…is that
1. A Servant of God will take responsibility for their influence upon fellow children of God.
Some may say…I’m not a leader.
Here is the truth….
At it’s most fundamental level… leadership is influence. Everyone has leadership capacity…the ability to influence others. The most important question in making a difference with our lives is not whether we have influence, but whether we will embrace our influence in service to God.
Some might say: I don’t have any influence.
You are influencing people all the time.
Sociologists tell us the most introverted of people will influence 10,000 others in an average lifetime. Imagine how many people you have knowingly and unknowingly influenced in your life so far.
The issue is embracing it. [1]
If we listen to the Scriptures…and Jesus… we hear two related truth.
The weight of this responsibility is ESPECIALLY high for those in roles of teaching and leadership.
The more leadership or influence one is entrusted with…the more one must embrace the responsibility.
I was first asked to come lead a youth ministry… big summer outreach week…I found myself going into the cleaning supplies closet… and praying desperately.
That same sense of sober responsibility was felt the first time I was given leadership… and stood in this position…and it still does today.
But equally true…. It is not bound by roles.
This responsibility flows in every sphere of influence…. to all who have been entrusted to you…by way of influence.
This confronts the idea that many are proud of today… which declares that whatever you do is your own business.
Many think…“What I do is my own business.” Many believe that we are not responsible to anyone else, and no one else has the right to make demands or claims upon us with regard to our behavior.
God created us with responsibility.
In the original story of Genesis…we are told of one brother Cain killing his brother Abel…and God comes with one of the core questions in life: Where is your brother? Cain must give an account.
When I have to give an account for my influence in your life…and you have to give an account for your influence in my life… we will not abuse the influence we have been given. And this isn’t a matter of just what we say…but what we do. The religious leaders declared many rules…and then tried to hide behind those words…those moral positions….but their actual ways were not God-centered.
So the first thing Jesus says… is that a Servant of God will take responsibility for their influence upon fellow children of God.
(TRANSITION)
Then Jesus says… “Pay attention to yourselves.”
There is a shared responsibility for one another. There is a communal responsibility. Pay attention to yourselves. Pay attention to one another's souls.
And he continues, “"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."”
This may sound a little strong to some of us. Most of us tend to be a little “conflict avoidant.”
The truth is that we can avoid conflict in a way that we want to think of as being nice…but can actually be quite uncaring.
Sometimes we just avoid being direct… we think destructively towards another …. We may even say things to other people about. We just don’t care enough to talk with them.
That very dynamic will develop an anger we don’t want to let go of. It fuels us.
We really aren’t serving God or others.
How are we to deal or respond to those who have personally hurt us?
Jesus says that we are to go to them and rebuke them. Now the word “rebuke” here does not mean you need to be harsh. The original word means that we take responsibility to raise the issue with them. It is about being honest… for the sake of helping them. You go to that person and say, "You probably don’t even know it, but you really hurt me when you did this or you said that."
The truth is that most of us tend to go the other way, by choosing to say nothing. We cut each other off, refusing to speak to one another, or to have anything to do with the one who has offended us.
We often wait for the offender to take the first steps, but Jesus says that the offended person is to take the first steps toward reconciliation. And then Jesus says the other part of this process is to be forgiving….to forgive those when they do repent. When they recognize that what they did was wrong… and take responsibility.
Jesus is clear that these are two parts… They must go together. In fact, he’s going so far, I think, as to tell us if you think you have one without the other, you really don’t have either. You see, if you rebuke but when you rebuke you don’t have this very forgiving spirit, then no matter how much you claim you’re trying to tell him the truth, you’re not actually trying to tell the truth; you’re trying to punish.
On the other hand, if you say, “I forgive,” it means you’re unwilling to rebuke, you’re willing to let somebody just go on in sin.
The truth is that we would often like to hold onto the anger… it makes us feel strong… if we admit we were hurt…then we express vulnerability.
But in confronting…and forgiving… we become the servants of God rather than the masters over others.
So the second thing Jesus says is we could summarize as this…
2. A Servant of God will relate to the wrong done by others with honesty and mercy.
And the essence of our mercy…is that it is the mercy that we receive from God.
A Servant of God will forgive as God forgives.
TRANSITION:
In response to this…we read in verse 5…
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
They’re basically saying, "Lord this is too much, I just can’t forgive others like this, it’s beyond my abilities and I’d need more faith to do this." They felt incapable of adhering or living up to the high standards Jesus had on forgiveness.
But notice how Jesus responded to them in verse six,
6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
Mulberry tree — known for its very broad root system; hard tree to uproot. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to that mulberry tree with its broad root system, ‘Be uprooted and then be planted in the sea.’”
Jesus told them that they didn’t need “more” faith. They simply had to be able to tap into the faith that they already had. They need to embrace the faith that was already present in them, even though it may have been just a small amount. What he says here is, “If you just act on what you already know, if you exercise the faith you have, you could do the things I’m talking to you about.”
If you believe that God is merciful…then you will trust the way of mercy.
Dealing with hurt is hard… it’s an area of life that we often accept that one has a “right” to not only have anger…but hold onto anger.
Anger becomes contempt… and we sanction it.
But Jesus says the servant of God will embrace the responsibility to bring peace.
And that will include mercy…and humility.
TRANSITION:
But some may think…What about my rights? If we are working for God… we might expect some special rights. This was certainly what the religious leaders had assumed.
Jesus continues….
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.'"
Jesus is using the position of what was called an “indentured servant” to describe the position we are in.
He is not describing a simple employee…who is paid to serve.
He is not describing one taken into slavery by force.
An indentured servant was someone who had come to owe real debt to another… which they could not pay….so they were obliged to go into service to your creditor until the debt was paid off, which means the creditor owned your labor.
Now this was a good thing. Why? The creditor had the right to simply throw the person into jail and throw away the key. So there was a great advantage to this.
The servant has no illusions that the creditor owes the servant all kinds of thanks.
Jesus is not trying to talk against common courtesy. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t say, “Thank you,” to somebody. What Jesus is talking about is the situation where a servant owes the master and the master owes the servant nothing is the condition between God and me.
God owns us through the right of creation and through the price he paid to redeem us from sin, he thus owns us twice. [2]
3. A Servant of God will embrace their role and duty as a servant.
The religious leaders had believed they were entitled.
That is the very root of abuse of power…when you feel you are owed something you are not …that you have a right to something which you don’t…that you deserve something when in fact you don’t deserve even what you have.
Those who believe that they are deserving of particular rights and conditions will abuse power… they will use power to serve themselves…rather than simply enjoy their fair and fitting role. [3]
The truth that Jesus wants us to really grasp… is that we don’t derive anything. I like how Dave Ramsey responds whenever asked ?How are you?”…he enjoys saying every time…“Better than I deserve.”
That not just a good response… I think it’s a great reality for our souls.
A Servant of God is content in serving God…
(Closing)
Let me close with a few words that flow from this…
1. A word of honor – we are blessed by so many who serve as true servants
I HAVE to acknowledge how blessed we are to have such a culture that serves as those who expect nothing. People who serve because they want to serve God. From worship to nursery…hosting… homeless… to many roles.
2. A word of challenge – Many of us need to settle who we are.
There is a difference between serving God and being a servant of God. [4]
Volunteers serve… but on their terms.
Let me ask you a question. What’s the difference between a servant and a volunteer? A volunteer picks and chooses when and even whether to serve. A servant serves no matter what. A volunteer serves when convenient; a servant serves out of commitment. Someone said it well: “The servant does what he is told when he is told to do it. The volunteer does what he wants to do when he feels like doing it.
Some of us need to face the fact that we are more like “volunteers” to God… that he may even be lucky to have us.
Are You a Servant or a Volunteer?
Did you know that the word “servant” in one form or another is used over 1,000 times in the Bible? That means it’s a very big deal to God and should be to us as well.
When the Apostle Paul introduced himself in his letters, he would start with his name and then describe his nature. Here’s an example from Romans 1:1: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus…” He tells us who he is (his name) and then what he is (a servant). This is his fundamental identity.
3. A word of freedom….
There is something very freeing about embracing our role and duty as servant… about letting go of expectations… of entitlements.
When we think God owes us something… that we deserve something… then we will develop some underlying sense that life is not fair… not working… depressed or angry.
There’s an assumption underneath all that anger. You assume God owes you a good life. “You take that assumption away and the anger collapses. It’s gone and you’re no longer in its grip. You are not nearly as much a victim as you think.” (Adapted from Keller)
When we stop trying to be the masters,,,, who sees that the world should serve us on our terms…we will be free from conflict…and able to find gratitude for the gifts.
The servant in Jesus story…had found grace in the opportunity to serve .
We can find grace…and gratitude.
4. A word of inspiration – God himself leads the way…the perfect servant of God has come
Jesus is the one who we follow…
He is the good shepherd who did not serve his interests…but ours… and is safe.
He is the one who forgives…even from a cross.
He is the only one who did more than what was owed… as creator becoming creature and serving the creature.
This is the kind of duty the hymn sings about when it says:
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee. [5]
Another hymn says:
To see the Law by Christ fulfilled,
And hear his pardoning voice;
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice. [6]
Closing Prayer:
Lord… forgive us for for own abuse of power.
For failing to embrace our influence on others.
For not caring enough to be honest…and forgiving.
For thinking that we deserve an easier life than you yourself embraced for us.
May we embrace the honor of being your servants.
Closing Song: You Can Have It All
Resources: Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III (“Temptation, Sin and Faith” & “Attitude Check”); John Hamby (Don't Be A Stumbling Block); Tim Keller (The Parable Of The Farmer; On Servanthood, August 21, 1994)
Notes:
1. Ligon notes… “…in the background of this you hear Paul, don't you, in the Pastoral Epistles saying to Timothy, “Timothy, watch your life; watch your doctrine.” And you hear James, Jesus’ half brother, in the little book of James saying, “Let not many of you become teachers because you will incur stricter judgment.” You hear these things echoing as Jesus tells the disciples, “Don't lead people astray by your life and your teaching.” And every teacher with ears to hear trembles.”
2. 1 Corinthians 6, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (20) For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
As Ligon notes,
“It’s difficult because there are different pictures of how we are to think of ourselves in the New Testament. For instance, in Galatians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7, Paul will say, “Remember, you are no longer slaves, you’re sons.” Well here, Jesus says to His disciples that they are to think of themselves how? As “unworthy slaves.” So which is it? Do we think about ourselves as sons or as unworthy slaves? And then there's John 15:15 where Jesus says to His disciples, “You are no longer servants (or slaves), you are My friends.” So am I supposed to think of myself as an unworthy servant, as a friend, or as a son? And of course the Biblical answer is, yes!” I Would add, we are restored a position of sons (or daughters)… included with Jesus as friends…but should understand our commitment to serve as servants.
3. As Ligon notes,
“Your attitude in obedience and attitude means a whole lot. Think about it my friends. Cain and Abel both offered an offering. Abel's offering was accepted by God. Cain's was not. Why? The only reason the text tells us has to do with the attitude of Cain's heart. Think of it. In the Gospels, Jesus tells a story of a Pharisee and a tax collector. They both went to the temple and they both what? They both prayed. But Jesus tells us one went away justified and one didn't. One's prayer was heard and one wasn't. What's the difference? Jesus tells us — the heart attitude.”
4. As Tim Keller describes, “The servant obeys everything. If you only obey when you understand why, if you only obey when you see it’s going to help you, if you only obey when it makes sense to you, if you only obey when it looks like it’s going to pay off for you, you know what? You’re not obeying at all. You’re agreeing, not obeying.
If there are any conditions to your obedience, it’s not obedience at all. There are a lot of images. I’ll just tick them off. The little booklet, My Heart—Christ’s Home, is a perfect example. If you let Jesus into the house and say, “Lord, this is your house, but you can’t go into that room” … See how the metaphor gets it across? If this is Jesus’ house but you’re in a position of telling him where he can go and where he can’t go, then it’s not his house; it’s your house. You can say it’s his house, but it’s not.
If you can bring forth conditions, if you can say, “Lord, I will obey here because it makes sense but not here because, oh, I would just be so unhappy if I did that,” you’re not obeying at all. There has been no relinquishment of will. You’re not a servant at all. God is not your master; he’s your consultant. A servant is somebody who does everything. A servant is somebody who makes no conditions.
5. Come Thou Fount - by Matt Boswell
6. Love Constraining To Obedience - William Cowper / Kevin Twit; from The River, released July 22, 2012
