Luke 17:7-10

Luke 17:7-10 “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’? 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’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 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.’”

Chosen, are we chosen to be kings and queens or chosen to be servants in the household of the Lord? Are we chosen to rule or are we chosen to serve? Jesus said, if you desire to be the greatest in the kingdom of God, you will be a servant to all. Does that not turn our present American theology upside down? Are we blessed to be all that we can be or are we blessed to be all the Father desires us to be: servants? The answers to these questions will determine how we live, how we treat people. If we believe we are lords and rulers, just waiting to rule over our ten cities, we will treat people with an authoritarian air, not with deference.

Is God only the absolute ruler, the ultimate authority, the final arbitrator, or is He a servant also? Is Jesus but a rule maker, the Word itself, or is He also a servant to all? Is the Holy Spirit, only the controller, a dictator of our spirits, or is He the patient guide, the comforter, the emulator of God? What do we perceive as the nature of God? Most cults believe they serve a judgmental, dictatorial God who eventually will reign terror on all outside of their camp. As Christians we do believe He reigns over all creation and someday will judge all things with nothing escaping his justice. But most of all, we see God through Jesus Christ's life. We see God healing, teaching, restoring, and loving people. We see him sacrificing for others with no place to lay his head, traveling by foot from one city to the next. We see him gathering little children in his arms and crying over Jerusalem. We see him on the cross saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. We see Jesus, the Lamb, slain for mankind, a perfect servant. He could have come with thousands of angels to destroy everyone, condemning mankind to hell and finally destroying the cancer of sin, for sin is death. But instead, Jesus came as a servant, reflecting God's nature: his long suffering, his love, his willingness to give all. Jesus came to heal, restore, save, and reveal God to us, a servant to all. WHAT LOVE, WHAT WONDROUS LOVE!

Today's verses reveal a servant does not seek his or her own way, but the way of the master. As Christians we do not seek our own will, but the will of the Master. We might feel we deserve to rest because the day's work was too long, too hard, but a true servant of the Most High always seeks to serve rather than be served. Christians are the true servants, the redeemed ones, the new creatures, living our lives for others and not ourselves. When we seek God for ourselves, for our own benefit, we begin the slide into apostasy. Jesus Christ came to serve, and we are his body. When we become part of the body of Christ, we put on his nature, his servant's attire. Our needs, our desires, become secondary to his will, his directives. His will is our will. The above passage says we don't sneak off to our bedroom or our den of isolation to do our will. No, we stay with the Master, asking his plan for our next move.

How attractive is this kind of life? True submission does not please the flesh, but pleases the spirit as a fulfilling life. When we live a life that counts, we will hear the Master say, "Enter into my rest, my good and faithful servant." We will rejoice over those words, knowing we are finally home with God himself. From that time on, we will be in total harmony with him, in eternal peace and joy. Everything He does, we will do; everything He wants we will want; every word that He speaks we will speak; his every intention will be our intention. The Lord's prayer says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10) To fulfill that prayer, we must be servants: his voice, his hands, and his nature here on Earth. Dear Lord, let it be so in our lives.