Most Christians understand that belonging to the Lord means we serve Him and will do things that He tells us to do. We like to think that we do it because we are so thankful for what He has done, or because Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel and make disciples or because we see the example of the servant in the early church. But what you may not be aware of is that there are some very fleshly motivations for service and some real pitfalls we can fall into that change service to self-service. In Luke 10 we see three elements of service - the focus of God’s service through us, the proper object of service, and the focus of our service for God.
Power
1 - 24 Missions Part 2
72: This was the number of nations set out in the Septuagint version of Genesis 10. The Hebrew version has 70, and some manuscripts of Luke have 70. Perhaps the point was that the gospel was to go to all nations. Here they prepare the many villages Jesus will visit on His way to Jerusalem.
A few points: They were harvesters. God does all the work in preparing a heart to receive Him, we just bring it in. Don’t mistake the work of the Holy Spirit for yours, nor think that a lack of fruit is your fault.
A constant prayer should be that God would put it on the hearts of His disciples to share the Good News.
These disciples were going to be very vulnerable in a hostile environment. But just as Jesus said in chapter 7 "let’s go to the other side" if He sends you out then it doesn’t matter how vulnerable you feel.
Jesus wasn’t telling them to be rude - the idea of "not greeting" or going "from house to house" meant that they were not to let other things deter them from their mission. Do things deter you from God’s mission for you?
Shaking off the dust - rejection of the message was not the same as rejecting the messenger. We shouldn’t take rejection of the gospel personally. Sodom will be better off in the judgment because the people of these towns had a much greater opportunity preached to them and they rejected it. Chorazin and Bethsaida were near Capernaum, where Jesus did a lot of His ministry. They heard the gospel and rejected it. Tyre and Sidon were pagan cities to the north. They were evil and had been judged by God (Isaiah 23) but if they had heard the gospel they would have repented (reminds me of Jonah and Nineveh).
In a way, the result of the service mission was that the disciples thought it was pretty cool that the demons obeyed them - power. But Jesus refocused them on the most important thing - salvation, not power.
Service: Focus on: being sent - not preparation, the message - not the messenger, the power of salvation - not the power of the servant. (And don’t focus on Satan).
Privilege or Prejudice
25 - 37 The Good Samaritan
It seems this was in a teaching setting - the man would have spent his life studying the Torah so the question isn’t so much "tell me about it" but "give me your take on it." Eternal life to him would have meant inclusion in God’s kingdom - not our understanding of eternal life spiritually.
The guy answers his own question but then presses for further clarification. Isn’t it interesting that as humans we always want to know just how much we can get away with and still be loyal to God?
The verses the man quotes (Deut 6:5, Lev 19:18) indicate that our vertical relationship with God needs to be the whole self - nothing held back. The second part - "love thy neighbor as thyself" is the horizontal relationship. That’s the one that often gets us into trouble. It’s fine to give whole-hearted devotion to God in our own self interest - but when it comes to giving unselfishly to others we want controls.
So Jesus gives the very famous parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritans were a mixed group of people brought into the land by the Assyrians after the northern tribes were carried into exile. They worshipped in a different place and a different god - even though they called him Yahweh. So the Jews hated them and the Samaritans hated the Jews. The man would have expected the Samaritan to be the bad guy in this story - but the fact that Jesus makes him the hero would have been surprising.
While we don’t have the rivalries that existed then, we may still find ourselves in the role of the priest of Levite in our own Good Samaritan story. We measure out our love based on who we are and who is in need. Jesus picked a hated group of people to the Jews to show them that real love transcends deserving. How often do we choose who to serve based on who is in "our" group - could be our church, our socio-economic group, our "clique" or others who share our political views.
Maybe you are an upper middle class conservative person. You come across a skateboarder who has many piercings and tattoos and clothes and mannerisms and views that run counter to everything you are. How quick are you to dismiss them? Maybe they get beat up by their skater friends - do you think "he probably deserved it" or "I don’t want to get mixed up with that kind - he might try to rob me."
And maybe it’s not literally physically helping someone in need - perhaps it’s merely associating with those who are not in "your" group. I think one of the chief lessons of this chapter is that a true servant doesn’t get to choose whom he or she serves as commanded by the Lord. When we focus on the "deserving" we become servants of privilege.
Pride or Prestige
38 - 42 Mary and Martha
Martha was probably the older sister. Why do I say that? It says "and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house." Perhaps their mother was dead or too frail to do anything. Perhaps both parents were dead and it was just the three kids - Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Martha felt the weight of responsibility as the host. It says she was "distracted by much serving." The word "serving" there is where get the word "deacon." Nothing wrong with service or being a servant. But is also says she was "distracted." It’s an interesting word - it means "to drag all around." I picture her with a ball and chain tied around her ankle dragging this weight around the house as she prepares food, sets the table, puts out the food, fills everyone’s drinks, clears the table, washes the dishes - all the while making stabbing stares at her sister who is just sitting there - just SITTING THERE!
Martha was not wrong to serve, but it was her attitude, not her actions, that Jesus questioned. Does ministry actually sometimes keep us from loving God? Perhaps Martha was more interested in producing her lavish feast, rather than doing what was necessary for them to eat. She may have been more interested in impressing God, than humbling herself and loving and serving Him.
Mary, on the other hand, is doing two things - sitting, and hearing. The word "sit" here is found only in this chapter. It means "to sit oneself down." But it wasn’t just the fact that was avoiding the household chores, vegging out on the couch while Mary did all the work - Luke also tells us that she "heard" Jesus words. It comes from a Greek word that means "to have an ear."
What did Jesus just say in verse 23? He is looking for people who have an ear to hear - and that’s what Mary had. If Mary had been sitting and not listening - then she too would have been called to account. I suppose that Martha could have been serving and listening - and that would have been better.
The question is - do we focus on what we are doing for the Lord so much that we don’t hear what the Lord is saying to us or doing in and through us? We can easily become "distracted" or anxious about what we’re doing for God - perhaps focusing on what others are not doing - and our attitude changes. Jesus is not saying "don’t serve" but he is saying "listen and obey" - don’t let anxiety about service take over.
There are so many lessons here that we could spend all day just on this section. Martha comes up and interrupts Jesus with her complaint about her sister. What did she accomplish? She stopped Jesus from teaching. Are we ever so worried about making sure God knows what so and so did that we stop the flow of God speaking to our hearts?
Mary chose "the good portion." I’m reminded of Deuteronomy 8:4: "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." It doesn’t mean that we stop working and buying groceries or making food - it doesn’t mean we stop mowing the lawn or cleaning the church building - and just sit around meditating on the Word. But what we need to realize is that we can’t put setting the table above eating the meal. Our service is like preparing the way for the real ministry, which is sitting at Jesus feet and listening, really listening to His teaching.
Conclusions
We’ve seen the pitfalls of service in the flesh, but what can we learn about serving God in the Spirit?
1. We are all missionaries.
Jesus appointed these 72, but He also appointed each and every one of us to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15) and "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). So the purpose of service is to spread the gospel and make disciples.
The purpose is not to get a job, to get rich, to gain purpose or meaning in life, to find self satisfaction, fame, or power.
2. Service often happens when no one is looking.
And the means of spreading the gospel for many of us is simply living life in obedience to God’s call. That might mean offering a shoulder for your neighbor to cry on. It may be denying yourself something you want, but may not really need. It may be doing the very small things that cost you a lot but don’t seem to get a big bang with others.
3. Your attitude in service is more important than what you do in service.
If you find yourself looking around for what others are not doing, if you find yourself focusing more on the task than the Lord, if you’re hands are so busy that your ears are closed - then maybe it’s time to re-connect with God and ask Him: am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing here? Remember that we are in a renovation project. You are not so important to God’s kingdom that if you don’t so something God will panic and wonder how it will get done. He can raise up stones to worship - and he can raise up anyone to do your task. But there is no other you - a person God cares about renovating - changing into His image. So let that work continue no matter what you do, and if it stops, question whether the "doing" has distracted you from the "good portion."
