The Unworthy Slave - Luke 17:7-10

Last week we were taught about the Unforgiving Slave in Matthew 18. Jesus taught His disciples about forgiveness, redemption, and a warning of consequences if we do not forgive those who ask us for forgiveness. Jesus’ parable showed how ridiculous it is for us to not to forgive when He has forgiven us for sinning against Him. We have sinned so much more against God than anyone one person has sinned against us. The imagery described in this parable was so good on what God does for us as the Master did to the slave in the parable. If we come to God and fall at the foot of the cross and beg for mercy, repent of our sins, and put our trust in Him to release our debt than what does He do for us? Instead of getting what we deserve He gives us mercy, grace and forgiveness of our crimes against Him. Our God is so good.

But what do we do? Do we provide the same grace and mercy against those who do wrong against us. No what do we do we act just like the slave and start to choke those who have done wrong against us. How fast does injustice and entitlement brew in our hearts. How ridiculous is that?

We learned that if we behave like this we will not go unpunished, but on the contrary we will be punished.

We are to forgive continuously to those who come and ask us for forgiveness.

Which brings us to our parable this week which is titled the Unworthy Slave. Today’s parable has a lot in common with what was taught last week. Jesus is speaking directly to His disciples. He gives us a warning, and as the last parable He tells us what kind of behavior He expects from us.

Before we dig into the scripture I want to make a comment about both these parables and the next parable I will be teaching. It is the word that is used to represent us. It is the word SLAVE. In the Greek is is pronounce doulos.

Do you know you are a slave? Either you are a slave to sin or a slave of righteousness. You are either a slave of satan or a slave of Christ. Your master is either satan or your Master is God.

Paul writes the following in Romans 6:16-18, 22

16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

We were bought with a price. The greatest price ever paid. Don’t ever forget that there was a cost to your disobedience.

1 Peter 1:18-19

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Who also called themselves slaves of Christ?

Paul, Timothy, James, Peter and Jude all called themselves slaves of Christ. And we will be taking a much deeper look into this term of being a slave in the coming weeks. Unfortunately we have a really skewed view of what slavery means in the U.S. but it is not how a Master Slave relationship should have ever been, nor how it is described in the Bible. The atrocities committed by men in our past should never be repeated but remember we are either slaves of sin or slaves of God. It is what the Bible teaches.

This might help you understand why God uses these parables describing Master and Slaves and how it applies to us. If we are followers of Christ we are slaves to Him.

Please open your Bibles to Luke 17:1-10 and lets read the word of God.

1 He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come!
2 “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.
3 “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.
7 “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’?
8 “But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’?
9 “He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?
10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”

Today’s parable is just flat out hard. Jesus is outlining a whole string of commandments and warnings. But there is something so positive about this parable that should work on each one of our hearts. It is to humble us before the Lord. You cannot read this passage without personal conviction. But I thank God for this passage to remind me who I really am and more importantly who He is.

It might seem that Jesus has conglomerated a bunch of random thoughts in this passage. However there is a theme to these 10 verses and they are common sins committed by us all.

Verse 1 tells who he is giving these warnings too. It is the disciples, followers of Christ. He is not speaking to the multitudes, to the Pharisees or any other non-believe but He is speaking to me and you who are followers of Christ. What are His warnings in this passage? There are 5 major warnings.

Do Not cause others to stumble or sin. Especially if they are new believers who are young in the faith.
Do not fail to warn our brothers of sin so they can repent.
Do not fail to forgive those who sin against us when the come to repent no matter how many times they sin against us.
We lack in the right kind of faith.
Do not expect God to give us special treatment for doing what He expects from us.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these warnings and see how they apply to us today.

In the second half of verse one it tells us not to be stumbling blocks to others. In the ESV translation it replaces stumbling blocks with sin. We are not to cause others to sin. Jesus continues in this verse with a pretty bold statement. It would be better for you to be dead than to cause these little ones to stumble. This passages is repeated in 3 of the 4 Gospels using pretty intense imagery. Jesus tells us it is better for a millstone that is literally pulled by a donkey to be tied around our necks and thrown into the sea. Obviously the Lord is very serious about us causing others to stumble.

In many of today’s church’s pastor’s are causing their congregations to stumble. Especially in the Emergent Church movement where orthodoxy is being challenged everyday. Preaching things like Jesus is not the only way or the Bible is not infallible or reliable. There is no hell or heaven and the heresy goes on and on.

But as bad as that is we really need to take a close look at our own lives and ensure we are not committing the same types of sins. Here is a real easy one for us to think about.
Do I cause my wife to stumble by saying one thing and doing another?
Do I ever cause her to become angry because of sin in my life? Do I encourage my kids to covet material possessions by giving them too much or how about seeing their Dad covet material things? I got to have the new iPhone.

We need to strip these things from our lives. Jesus commands us not to cause others to sin.

Let’s continue to verse 3 and Jesus tells us to make sure we identify sin in our brothers so they can repent. Now we need to be very careful with this passage because the focus is not about getting back at our brother but about restoring him. It is not about pointing fingers on how could someone do something like that but to make them aware that they are in sin. They may not even know they are in sin and we need to exhort and encourage them to stop. We do not allow sin to continue without warning our brother. The goal is the process of restoration and not about I was right and you are wrong. If our hearts are in the right spot then restoration is the goal. If restoration is not our goal then we become hypocrites

Matthew 7:1-3 would apply when Jesus said,

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

As we move to verse 4 we hit the really hard part of this chapter and the principle that was taught by Pastor Bill so eloquently last week. But here we have Jesus telling us again that if someone ask for forgiveness we are to continue forgive them as long as they keep repenting. This is hard. But if we don’t do it then we are in sin ourselves.

Do you see how verse 3 and 4 work together? If my heart is in the right spot exhorting my brother by showing him his sin and he recognizes his sin and he repents and I forgive him then we are in unity. But do we see if our hearts are not right we may point out the sin unto judgement and then turn around and not truly forgive. Our hearts need to be right.

We then get to verse 5 and I am totally with the disciples here who say to the Lord “Increase our faith!” Lord help us how are we ever going to be able to do these things?

If what Jesus has said so far does not convict your heart then you are far along the path of holiness. The disciples were convicted and knew they struggled with these things. The called out to the Lord to help them with these things.

Jesus responds by saying if you have just a small amount of the right kind of faith you can do anything. Jesus is using hyperbole to make his point about the right kind of faith. He tells the disciples with right kind of faith you can do absolutely anything. He is encouraging them. All these things I have told you can be accomplished through faith in Me. It is our faith in Christ that allows us to do amazing works.

But what if our faith is misplaced? I can have the greatest faith but if what I have my faith in something that is not true then all is lost. I think I have mentioned this before but what about those men who flew the planes into the World Trade Center? Did they have great faith? Of course but their faith was misplaced in the wrong thing. It is better for someone to have a little faith in the right thing then a whole lot of faith in the wrong thing. With little faith in Christ much can be accomplished.

And we finally end with the parable of the Unworthy Slave. Luke 17:7-10

7 “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’?
8 “But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’?
9 “He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?
10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”

Can you imagine if you went to work at 9 am and at about 2 you tell your boss you are done for the day. Now you know he is paying you for a full day of work not for a half a day. But you always leave early and do the bare minimum. He is expecting some deliverables from you and you don’t complete them. Not only that but you head into his office before leaving and tell him you think you deserve a raise for your dedication to the company. You then go on to tell him you really think you deserve a promotion on top of it all. Does anyone in their right mind think this man deserves a promotion? He isn’t even doing what was expected of him.

It is the same way for us and our expectations of God. How many times do we find ourselves patting ourselves on the back for what a super job we have done.

Well God this year I didn’t cheat on my taxes.
God do you see that I turned my head and didn’t lust after that women.
God did you see how I didn’t get bothered when my wife asked me to empty the dishwasher.

We think we are doing really really well and we are really doing just what He has commanded us to do. I don’t know about you but this brings me to my knees and makes me understand how unworthy of a slave I really am. Do I do the things that are even required of me? This puts me right back in the proper relationship to God. To be a humble servant.

I want to end today’s message with a quote from Andrew Murray from his book Humility. This was written back in the 1850’s.

The humble person feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before him. He can hear others praised and himself forgotten, because in God's presence he has learned to say with Paul, "I am nothing." He has received the spirit of Jesus, who pleased not himself and sought no His own honor as the spirit of his life.

Amid temptations to impatience and irritableness , to hard thoughts and sharp words that come in response to the failings and sins of fellow-Christians, the humble person carries the oft-repeated injunction in his heart and shows it in his life: "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, even as the Lord forgave you." He has learned that in putting on the Lord Jesus he puts on the heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and long -suffering. Jesus has taken the place of self, and it is not an impossibility to forgive as Jesus forgave. HIs humility doesn't consist merely in thoughts or words of self-depreciation, but, as Paul puts it, in "a heart of humility," the sweet and lowly gentleness recognized as the mark of the Lamb of God.