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7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he 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 Will 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.’” Luke 17:7-10
The Lord Jesus, in today's text, illustrates why the Pharisees were so resistant to the Gospel. The Pharisees loved to be worshipped. The Pharisees loved the applause of people. They dressed a certain way and behaved a certain way to gain the slap on the back from others. I believe it was Max Lucado who said, "A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd."
In Luke 20:46-47 we read, "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely."
When God gives us position and influence and He uses us in the lives of others in a positive way, we run the risk of thinking more of ourselves than we ought. It's easy to think we are the impetus behind our success and we become arrogant about any spiritual progress we may experience.
So, the Lord Jesus addresses this with a story of a boss and his employee. The word used here is doulos, meaning a slave, which was the equivalent to an employee. But, in reality, this is an illustration of the believer and God.
Now, this employee understood exactly what his job required. And he understood that more was not being asked of him than what was required by the job. So, no one would say to him, "Come along now and sit down to eat." Of course, He was on the job to perform certain duties and he was not to sit down and eat.
In v.8 we read, "Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?’” There was an agreed upon contract for pay from the employer for certain services rendered by the employee.
Then in v.9 we read, "Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?" It is understood that the employer is paying this employee for the job he agreed to do. And, no employee would expect special honor after fulfilling his normal and agreed upon duties. What was expected of him was the normal and agreed upon pay for the normal and agreed upon work for the day.
In v.10 we read, "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." The religious leaders expected to be treated special by God and people. They lacked a proper biblical theology. They were in the habit of patting themselves on the back and thinking that God was really impressed with them. In fact, they thought God owed them some special favor when they had merely done what was expected of them.
If we are honest and biblically informed, we instinctively know that we are unworthy servants. These religious leaders had allowed their self-centeredness to cloud their theology. When we lose sight of the Lord and we do not walk with Him daily, we lose sight of how wretched we truly are.
Humble people reject honor. We know we're not in God's debt. We know it is only by God's grace that we have been forgiven and we subsequently have a personal relationship with Him. Never will we earn anything He gives us. We can not be that good, even when forgiven.
There are two extremes to avoid: obeying God because we have to, or obeying God to gain reward. Both extremes are seen in the attitude of the Prodigal's older brother who was miserably obedient, hoping his father would let him have a party with his friends.
We love God because He loved us first. And, He loved us while we were His enemies, while we were dead in our sins and trespasses. In response, serving Him is a delight, not a duty. We obey God because we love Him. And never do we imagine that we have served Him so well as to somehow have impressed Him and obligated Him to give us some special honor, as if He is in our debt.
The religious leaders did not understand total depravity which asserts that mankind, as a result of the fall, is not inclined or even able to love God as we ought. Rather, mankind is inclined to serve our own will and desires and reject God's rule in our lives.
This explains why the religious leaders were so hard-hearted and unchanged. The greatest change agent in this world is God's grace, and this distorted understanding of our condition is what causes us to believe that we deserve.
Of course, we know we do not deserve anything good from God. We do not deserve His kindness. It is through His kindness that He sent to us His Son. And, when we accessed that favor through His Son, He lavished upon us His grace. This is not in response to anything we have done or will ever do. No, it is all based upon the performance of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.
