Unprofitable Servants

Luke chapter 17 and verse 7. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking. He appears to be speaking to his disciples and he says, but which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say unto him, by and by, when he is come from the field, go and sit down to meet, and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do.

Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word. On a previous occasion, the last time we met, We spent some time thinking about Christ's care for his little ones, for his people, in the midst of their trials. And we learned that Christ himself defends his people. He spoke to his church about offences that will surely come. he tells us that woe betides those by whom those offences come. Our Saviour will avenge his people. Those who touch Christ's church touch the apple of his eye.

We also mentioned something about faith. The disciples wanted more faith, they desired, they expressed a desire for more faith. And it isn't clear from the chapter, the verses that we have here in Luke 17, it isn't clear what prompted this request on the part of the disciples, or indeed what they felt that they might secure from it.

But the Lord tells them that even the smallest quantity of faith will achieve great things. And perhaps the Lord and his disciples at that very moment were passing a sycamine tree. He tells them such a tree could be planted in the sea even if you just had a little amount of faith. It's an amazing notion, indeed, that picture that is conjured up by that statement. But the lesson is surely this, that great things are done by faith. And these men, as ministers of the gospel, would, in time, do great things for the cause of Christ and the kingdom of God. their preaching would establish fruitful churches that would grow and prosper in the most barren, inhospitable places, just like a tree being planted in the sea. Who would expect such a tree to be fruitful and yet there would be a fruitfulness in the most inhospitable places by the ministry and the testimony and the faithfulness of these men.

By faith and the power of the Holy Spirit, they would do mighty deeds, they would accomplish great feats. And Christ elsewhere tells his disciples in John 14, he says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. Now given that that is what we were thinking about previously and a little bit embellished perhaps, no doubt when the disciples heard such truths, their hearts raced For a long time during their training, these men harboured ideas of power and greatness at Christ's side. They thought that Christ was going to reign in Israel and that they would be his partners in that kingdom.

And we've said it before, I fear that these men's ambitions were too physical and too worldly. They did not appreciate, at least in these early stages, and we would have to say right up towards the very end, the spiritual dimensions of this kingdom as perhaps fully as they should have done.

Even, dare we say, to the point of pride, No doubt the Lord knew their heart and so these verses that we've read today about the unprofitable servant were given perhaps to temper the disciple's swelling imagination. because the saviour at once qualifies this statement about the little amount of faith, putting a tree into the sea, he at once qualifies his comments with a lesson concerning the role and duties of these disciples as his servants in his service and for the care of the church. So the verses that we read today are very clear and the lesson that they convey would not have been misunderstood by the Lord's disciples, I'm sure.

The Lord was telling them that they were the servants in this parable, if indeed we can call it that. But if this is a parable, the Lord was telling them that they were the servants and Christ was the master. there is a lesson that is no doubt suitable for all the Lord's people and perhaps especially the Lord's ministers. The Lord's ministers and all those brought into Christ's kingdom who with him are heirs of all things.

The Lord speaks of a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, that could be cattle or sheep. And that's perhaps a very opposite picture to form this idea of ploughing and feeding the sheep is exactly symbolically what a preacher of the gospel does. There were menial tasks as far as a farm labourer was concerned. and they would well exemplify the duties of a lowly servant, which is no doubt why the Lord used this picture. But then the Lord makes it personal for the apostles.

And it's interesting because I'm sure none of these apostles had servants of their own. These were just working men, these were labouring men in their own right. Yes, they had a business or they had businesses and yes, perhaps they worked for the Roman authorities or had various other roles and responsibilities, but they were working men. These were not property owners in the sense that they would have a large household and that they would have servants. So he was painting this picture for them.

And the Lord says, suppose you had a servant and that servant was working in your field all day. When it comes evening and the servant returns home, what do you do? Do you prepare a meal for him? Do you welcome him at the door and say, go and sit down to meet? Is that what the disciples would expect? Not at all. The master would say, go and make me something to eat. Get yourself ready, get yourself cleaned up. Serve me my dinner. Then after I've eaten, you can go and get yourself some food. And the Lord Jesus continues in verse nine.

Doth he thank, he's speaking about this Lord in the parable again, doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not, or I trow not, I don't think so. The Lord is saying, I don't think that that's how the master would react or respond to his servant. One does not get thanked for doing one's duty. And even in our own society, people are expected to do their job for which they're paid. Ordinarily, gratitude and honour are reserved for acts that go above and beyond the call of duty.

So what is the Lord showing us here? Well, I think the first thing is that all of us And perhaps we should say especially those who are preachers and ministers, since that is who the Lord was speaking to here. But all of us have no higher standing in the Church of Christ than any other. We all are servants of Christ, and we all are servants to one another. The word minister, whether we think of it as a noun or as a verb, it means to serve, it means a servant.

The Lord has called us into his service and it is our privilege to work for him. It is our privilege to labour in his fields and care for his sheep. furthermore, another application is that as it relates to the Lord, we all are unprofitable servants. We bring nothing to the Lord that enriches him or profits him. We neither add nor contribute anything of value that the Lord could not easily obtain by any other means. On the contrary, It's our privilege to serve Him. The benefit and the honour is all ours.

And anyone who imagines that they're able to do something for the Lord that no one else can do is greatly mistaken. Anyone who thinks that their contribution is special or their achievements are in some way exceptional, that their skill is unique, betrays the fact that they are full of pride and that they possess no real understanding of their own sinful heart and fallen nature. I am an unprofitable servant. You are an unprofitable servant.

We all fall far short of serving our Lord as he deserves and as he is worthy to receive at our hand. Anything we can bring to him by way of service is no more than he rightly deserves. And the very best we can bring is but our duty to do. No more than is our duty to give him and that's all we have. Even then we still fall far short.

All we are we owe to God's sovereign distinguishing grace and goodness. It is incumbent then on all of us to stoop very low in the Lord's presence and to realise how far short we come of his rightful worship, of his praise and the full and proper gratitude due to him for all that he has done for us. Ever, ever shall we be indebted to our Saviour for the great salvation with which He has saved us, called us and given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

In the presence of God, we are nothing in ourselves. Outside of Christ, we are nothing. apart from his grace and mercy we have nothing. We are and ever shall be unprofitable servants because we can never repay what we owe or serve as our indebtedness demands. There is nothing in us that is acceptable to God except what Christ's blood makes so. There is nothing we can bring, offer or produce that is not spoiled and polluted with sin. Our worship, our prayers, my sermons are offensive were it not that they were sanctified by Christ and offered on our behalf by the mediation of Christ himself and the intercession of the Holy Spirit.

All our standing is due to one unalterable and enduring fact. We are acceptable only in and because of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is all the good, all the praise, all the profit. In himself, or in myself, I'm sorry, in myself, I'm an unprofitable servant. And as Paul says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. All our happiness, all our blessedness is in Christ. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that we might be humble before him for no flesh should glory in his presence.

Let me close in saying this. This is one of the reasons I'm convinced that there is no creature merit in heaven and therefore no degrees of reward in heaven based upon our works here on earth. Should God give more glory to one or another, it must all be by his grace. But I don't think he will.

I think we shall all receive the same reward in heaven, for we shall all receive the fullness of Christ, the reward of grace, the inheritance of God as joint heirs with Christ Jesus. you, me and all his redeemed blood-bought church. And here's a final thought. There is coming a day when the Lord Jesus will say to us what his Lord said to the servant in Matthew chapter 25 in verse 23. He will say Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

Now on that day, we shall not contradict our Lord and our Saviour and our Husband. But I dare say we shall know on that day, more than ever, just how unprofitable we have been. And then with the psalmist, in Psalm 115 verse 1, our song will be, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Amen.

Unprofitable Servants

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