The Unworthy Servant

I've entitled this, The Unworthy Servant. Some of your Bibles may have headings that say something like, Jesus Teaching on Forgiveness and Faith. But it's much, much, much more than that when you look at these 10 verses. It's much deeper and much broader than just a few little specifics. And it's really talking about the unworthy servant. And boy, when I first started studying this, I told Joy, I said, Joy, if you can read Luke 17, one through 10 this week, read it and study it, because it's just amazingly eye-opening and deep to me. So I want us to bow together and ask the Lord to help us today understand this, and then we'll jump into it.

Lord, help us as we study your word today. Lord, I don't have a corner on the market in understanding, but Lord, what you have revealed to me, I sure want to share it. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Luke 17, 10 is the summary of one through 10. And I want to read that to you and make some opening statements about that. And they'll throw one up on the screen here in a minute. They may throw it up right now. I want to read it to you. Jesus said to his disciples. Now he's talking to his disciples.

Remember, he's been flopping back and forth between the Pharisees, the scribes, and his disciples. Well, this is directed toward his disciples. And you need to keep that in mind because Jesus is concerned that their witness is way different than the Pharisees' witness. Jesus said to his disciples, so you too, when you do all which are commanded you, say, underscore this, we are unworthy slaves. Now, some of your Bibles may say servants. We prefer that term today because slave carries such negative images to us of abuse and demeanor and hurt and entrapment. You know, there's sex trafficking all across America today because the invasion across our border and young babies are sex slaves.

And so I prefer the word servant too. It makes me feel a little better. But that word slave didn't carry the connotations it carries in our day. And I want you to understand that. If we go back and forth and I use the word slave, understand I'm talking about servants, okay? We have done only that which we ought to have done. That statement by Jesus described the duty of a servant.

His job was to be obedient to his owner's command. It's a nothing more, nothing less relationship. It's a relationship of expected dutiful actions. This servant understands his role and he puts himself in a place, and I want you to hear this, a place of recognizable humility, recognizable humility. Humility is the key word here. Through this entire text, this message is about humility. And I'll tell you right now, if there's one thing this world needs today, and I can get an amen on that, it's humility.

We've almost lost that concept in our world today. Jesus is telling his disciples, you and me, if you want to authenticate your relationship with me, if you want to make it real, you will walk in humility. James, the brother of Jesus, in his letter to the believers in the 12 tribes of Israel, in verse one, I don't know if you ever caught how he described himself. He said he was a bondservant, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, a bondservant. In chapter four, verse six of James, he says, God gives grace to the humble. Now, is that good news? When you walk in humility, will there be a reward?

Will you be blessed? Yes, with grace.

In chapter four, verse six, he says, in chapter, sorry, verse 10, he says, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you. You remember singing that song? Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. We used to sing that chorus, didn't we?

Humility. Now, James, the brother of Jesus, is simply repeating what Jesus said over and over and over to his true disciples. In verse 14, chapter 14, verse 11 in Luke, Jesus said, for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. I don't need to exalt myself because all that's going to bring is humiliation. But what I do need is to humble myself in the presence of the Lord. When I was working on this sermon, there were moments when literally I postured myself before God, and I said, God, help me understand what's going on here. In Luke 18, 14, Jesus said, I tell you, this man, referring to the prayerful, repentant tax collectors.

What do we know about tax collectors? They were on the outside, weren't they? They were considered the scum of the earth. No one appreciated a tax collector. I tell you, this man, this prayerful, repentant tax collector went down to his house justified rather than the other. The other here is the Pharisees, the arrogant Pharisees. The Bible says the one praying to himself.

His prayers weren't directed to God. They were directed inwardly just to build himself up. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. That walk of true humility would be, if you look at it in its fuller context in this passage, the exact opposite of what the walk of a Pharisee would look like. I thought about that, and two words came to my mind about the walk of a Pharisee, and I think most of you would agree with this, spiritual pride. For if that isn't a caution and a warning to the church today, spiritual pride. We get to thinking we're really something in God's eyes, and I'm not negating that you are something in God's eyes, but when you exalt beyond his recognition, then you've stepped across that line.

You understand what I'm saying there? Spiritual pride. Now, here's some characteristics of spiritual pride. Self-righteousness, judgmental, unteachable, self-absorbed, unaccountable. Self-righteous, they felt themselves to have a credited sense of earned superiority. You hear that? They credited themselves, judgmental.

They were quick to criticize and condemn other spiritual practices, unteachable. They were resistant to correction or instruction. You ever been there? Believing they had little to learn from others. They literally believed that they had a corner on the market when it came to their interpretation of scripture and application. Now, I think there is a correct interpretation of scripture and correct application, but it's okay to be tested and tried. In fact, when you are, you really discover, are you walking into truth?

Self-absorbed, they desired recognition and praise for their precision, knowledge, and power over others. I can remember when I was at McMurray and I had to meet with the board of ministry about where I was gonna go to seminary. And the seminary of choice at that time from guys in this area was SMU, Perkins School of Theology. And that's where we were all supposed to go. And I let them know that I wasn't going to Perkins. I was going to Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky that was not owned or orchestrated or manipulated by the United Methodist Church. It simply taught Wesleyan historical John Wesley theology.

That's what it taught. And it honored the word of God as the inspired word of God. And I can remember them. I thought of the Pharisees when they looked at me and said, well, you go there and you'll never serve in this conference. You'll never be a preacher in this conference. Now, these are guys that are up the ladder in this conference. They're recognized as leaders of this conference.

And here I am, 20 years old, telling them I'm not going to your seminary. I'm going to the one God told me to go to.

You know, if I could describe to you when I was sitting there looking at them, I saw these long robes and all these banners on them and these crowns on them, you know. And I went across the street to Aldersgate to talk to the preacher that was over there, R.L.

Kirk. And R.L. was one of the first Asberians to come back to this conference. And I went in and said, man, I'm scared. These guys, the big shots, have told me I'll never serve in this conference. He said, that's straight from the pit. You just trust God and you'll be in this conference. Unaccountable.

They focused on the faults of others. You've never done that, have you? Ignoring their own sin nature and sinful actions.

Accountability, unaccountability leads to that kind of thinking. In Matthew 23, verses one through 36, Jesus detailed the warnings against Phariseeism and the woes to the Pharisees. The warnings and the woes are very graphic. They're very graphic. Now, I'm not going to read all those, nor am I going to break it down for you. That's for another day. But I will read a few verses that I think capture the spirit of the warning and woes.

In verse 15, Jesus said, listen to what he said. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Now, there's a lot of folks in the church can't imagine Jesus saying that. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on the sea and the land to make one proselyte. And when he becomes one, you make him, listen to what Jesus said, twice as much a son of hell as yourselves, a son of hell as yourselves.

Boy, what do you think would have happened if I called those guys that day that were intimidating me, said, you're sons of hell. You're dressed up in all the garb and you're just a son of hell. Now, that probably would have kept me out of this conference.

Spiritual pride is a death warrant. Do you hear what I'm saying? In Matthew 23, 27 through 28, Jesus said, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside, they are full of dead man's bones and uncleanness. Even so, listen to what he says, you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

It's a spiritual death warrant, isn't it, that was hanging over these guys.

It was not an ounce of acknowledged unworthiness nor recognizable humility within the hearts of the Pharisees. That's a pretty big statement. You know, in my years on this earth, I've noticed inside and outside the church, in the secular world and in the religious world, there are hypocrites.

Somebody described it to me one time, there are saved hypocrites and there are lost hypocrites.

Sometimes, I get a little hypocritical. I'm saved, I can guarantee you, I'm saved and it doesn't take me long to get on my knees and repent. Because I carry some of those characteristics of those Pharisees into relationships sometimes and I have to repent when I do. In these 10 verses that we're going to look at very quickly here, Jesus draws down for his disciples a description of what authentic discipleship should look like. It very clearly is a walk in humility. Let me mention some characteristics of humility. Number one, awareness.

Another word you might want to use there is acknowledgment.

It's turning on your spiritual eyes and seeing.

Awareness, guys, we are in a spiritual battle. In verse 1, the first sentence in verse 1 of our text, Jesus said, listen to what he said, it is inevitable. Now, what does that mean? It's going to happen, isn't it? It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come. Some of your Bibles may say temptations.

Others may say offenses. It's inevitable that these things will be launched at those that are following Jesus. We will be tempted. We will be offended.

There will be stumbling blocks that are thrown in front of us that cause us to go off course, to go off the pattern of following him. We live in a fallen world. We have a sin nature. We are sinners because we have chosen to rebel against God's will. Stumbling blocks, temptations, offenses will come through the devil, his demons, and his submissive ones. I want you to hear that, his submissive ones on this earth to tempt us and lure us away from his divine actions in our lives. Humility can come when we become aware, when we give acknowledgement that we are personally lost without Christ.

The conviction of the Holy Spirit allows us this awareness. It just doesn't happen. God has a Holy Spirit that brings conviction on us about righteousness, sin, and judgment.

It is so important when the power of the Holy Spirit is bearing down on us, when the intervention from the Holy Spirit comes, that we choose not to grieve nor quench the very Spirit of God. Those are the two sins mentioned against the Holy Spirit, quenching and grieving. You ever quench the Holy Spirit? Well, just turn that tap down just a little bit, Lord. Are you ever grieving the Holy Spirit? Well, I know what you said, but I'm going to go ahead and do this, and you do it. Then the Holy Spirit is saddened and grieving because you're fixing to understand what you just did.

Awareness is the doorway to humility.

1 John talks about if we say we don't have sin, we are liars.

There are a lot of folks. I've sat with them in counseling rooms that I knew they were living in sin, and I've talked with them about that. There was just this wall of defense.

Oh, no, no, no. I don't do that. I knew they were doing that.

The first step, Isaiah says, woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips. I am undone. There is no way I can save myself. When we come to that awareness, that acknowledgment in our lives, that experience, it becomes the doorway to humility. We were talking about that transformation group this last week, about how people progressively, processively come to a place where they experience understanding that they're lost outside of You can't just run us through the same steps through confirmation classes or Sunday school classes or revivals. Sometimes it's step upon step upon step until you literally come to the place where you fall on your knees and say, I'm lost.

I'm lost. When we do that, the doorway of humility is opened up to us. We have finally humbled ourselves in the presence of the Lord. If I stopped right now and we didn't do anything else, I said, tell me your humbling experience, I guarantee you, many of you would be able to go back and say, at this point, at this point, at this point, it may be even more than one point or two points or three points. You have been humbled where the conviction of the Holy Spirit fell on you and you became aware I am lost. I don't know where I'm going. I don't have a plan.

I am literally undone. Secondly, I don't even know if this is a word, but I wrote it anyway. Guardfulness. Verses 1B through 3A, Jesus said, but woe to him through whom they come temptations,

it is saying to us, his disciples, you better watch out for about your witness, but woe to him through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and they were thrown into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard. Guardfulness. I need to guard my witness. I'm not going to go into this in depth, but let me tell you that there may be things that are lawful, but they may not be profitable.

You hear what I'm saying?

You may have the freedom to participate in that endeavor, but who is it affecting that's observing you? It's very important that we understand that we are accountable to our witness. The millstone was, there were two millstones and one had a hole in it and they poured the grain down through this huge millstone, probably could have weighed a thousand pounds, and it rotated on this other millstone and it created the flour. And to take that millstone and to stick it around your neck, you ain't coming back up. You're done. That's how important our witness is in this world, that we watch our words and our actions. And when it talks about here, you don't want to cause a little one to stumble.

So many times we've interpreted that as talking about little kids. This is talking about young believers. Those that have just come to Christ and are watching you like a hawk. You may not even know they are, but they're watching you like a hawk to see if you would be a stumbling block. Well, Brother Kerry did, I guess I can do it. I can go off as that referee at that basketball game because Brother Kerry did it. Now that's a testimony for me.

I've tried to do better. I was a bit hypocritical.

Proverbs 23 says, above everything else, guard your heart for everything else flows from it. If you realize that you have a spiritual heart and you're guarding that heart, then good attitudes and good actions and good words will come from you. But if you don't, watch out what's going to come out. Because we have a sinful nature. Philippians 4, 7 says, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. You know, heart, mind. And it's not just us, it's us participating under the sovereignty of God.

That's where the peace comes from. It is God that's guarding our hearts. Now humility flows, let me tell you, humility flows from a guarded heart. When you guard your heart, you will walk in humility. Thirdly, loving kindness. Verse 3b and 4 says, if your brother sins, rebuke him. Now that's a pretty strong word.

I'd rather say correct him. And if you go and study how that correction should take place, it's through gentleness. I remember a friend of mine who was cheating on his wife. And I caught him in a Methodist parking lot at the hospital one day.

And I can tell you I wasn't gentle. At all. I corrected and I rebuked. And it just made him madder. I've often thought about that and repented about how I approached him. Not that it would have mattered in his choice, because he chose to continue in his wayward, sinful way. But at least I would have had a better feeling about how I approached him.

That makes sense.

But we are called, when we see people living in sin in the church, there are steps how we bring correction. And if they refuse that correction, they're actually put outside the doors of the church. But we do it with a broken heart. We forget and we help. You understand what I'm saying there? It's amazing how many people will repent.

It says rebuke him. And it says if he repents, it's not saying he will. If he repents, forgive him.

There's conditional forgiveness there. I'm glad God has some unconditional forgiveness for me. But he did not eliminate the step of repenting, did he?

What did Jesus preach? He preached repentance. You want a relationship with me? You repent.

Now, I've covered your sins. I've gone to the cross and I've covered all your sins. But unless you repent, you'll never experience my forgiveness. That's not heresy, is it?

That's truth. And if he sins against you seven times a day, this one even gets a little tougher. Return to you seven times saying, I repent, forgiving. When you're discipling and mentoring those that are new to the faith, it is inevitable. They will be tempted and they will often yield. And you are the one that's put in their place to hug them back into the kingdom, to help them come to repentance. And you forgive them.

Jesus talks about it 70 times seven. You know, I thought, well, that's 490 times. When he eats 490, I'm done. You know, what he's talking about there is your heart has to be open to forgiving and forgiving and forgiving. Humility appropriates experiences and demonstrates loving kindness. When I understand my sin condition, I can't get haughty about somebody else's. You hear what I'm saying?

I want to walk in humility. I want to be a person of redemption. Now, it's up to them if they're going to step into that redemption. But I'm not going to be a stumbling block. You see what I'm saying? Okay, fourthly, assuredness. Verses five through nine.

And the apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. You've laid all this on us. We need a built up of faith here. And the Lord said, I love this. If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to the mulberry tree, be rooted up and be planted in the sea and it would obey you. They didn't need more faith. They needed to walk in humility.

But which of you, it's going to read it, but which of you having a slave plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he comes, when he has come in from the field, come immediately and sit down and eat. But will he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat? Now, y'all hear what he's saying there? Here's this servant been out there slaving all day in the field. Well, I've done really, really good. So just get dressed up and come in and sit down and not just eat with me at my table.

But will he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat? Your job's not over. You think you've earned a place at the table? Let me tell you, you still got to prepare a meal for me and properly clothe yourselves and serve me until I have eaten and drunk. And afterwards, key word there, you will eat and drink. You know, we get the idea of assuredness of our salvation that we come to a place where we're just at the eating table all the time, we've earned to be there. And the Lord says, wait a second, you got a little bit more to do.

You're my servant, go fix me a meal. And when I'm finished eating and drinking, then I'm going to feed you and let you drink. He does not thank the servant because he did things which were commanded, does he? The servant needed not to be stroked or firmed, but finds his fulfillment in actually serving the Lord. Now, I want to read that over to you. I want you to think about it. The servant needed not to be stroked or firmed, but finds his in actually serving the Lord.

Now, guys, we live in a world that's built upon, well, I've worked my tail off. My manager ought to stroke me. I ought to feel appreciated. He owes me a party. Well, an actual fulfillment stroking comes when we've done what the Lord required. Do you see the division there? I'm not waiting for outside approval.

Because I have done what the Lord told me to do. And that's enough. That's enough. Now, I'm not discounting that we don't need to stroke people. We do. And I'm not discounting that we don't show appreciation. We do.

But I am saying that there are actions and purposal living that can occur in our life because we've been servants to the Lord. Now, does that make sense to you? Have I explained it?

I don't have. You know, when I first started preaching and the way you did back then, you stood at the back of the foyer and people would go out and they'd say, oh, great sermon, preacher. Great sermon. I don't think I've ever heard anybody explain it like you explain it. Well, that's really a good sermon, Brother Cary. You know.

Put me on TV, you know.

My satisfaction should have come in simply knowing that I had been obedient what the Lord told me to say. And I said it. And I didn't need any outward stroking. Now, that goes off to how we're built, isn't it? You know, and I'm telling you, husbands, you better do some stroking sometimes. Stroking is good. Stroking is good.

But if I build my life just upon morning affirmation and approval and stroking, I'm wasting my energy. If I know I'm doing what the Lord told me to do. Now, that was the big turn on for me in this sermon. That was a light that came on to me. I struggled with trying to understand why that owner wouldn't just say, sit down here and eat with me. Somebody still had to cook the meal. And it's you, buddy.

You cook the meal. But let me tell you something.

Afterwards, you don't have to worry about it. You're going to eat. And you're going to drink. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Air of salvation purchased of God. Horn of his spirit washed in his blood.

That eliminates all my need for affirmation. You see what I'm saying? That's good stuff, isn't it? I can go to bed at night when I understand that servanthood yields humility. And humility defines servanthood.

This servant demonstrated a sureness in his master. He did not need more faith because he knew his master was trustworthy. Trustful and worthy and therefore would meet all his needs.

What does verse 10 say? Jesus said to his disciples, so you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you say, we are unworthy servants.

We have done only that which we ought to have done.

If you come to that place, I'm going to tell you that's true humility. That is true humility.

In Matthew 25, and I'll wrap up with this. Matthew 25, Jesus says twice in the parable of the talents. The one that had five talents and the one that had two talents and the one that had one talent. The one with five and the two went out and doubled their talents. The one with one, he just buried it in the ground. What did Jesus say to the ones that invested and did something? Well done, good and faithful servant.

Now here's the afterwards, enter into the joy of my salvation. You're amazing, isn't it? He's amazing.

So, when you go out of church today, I'm going to stroke all of you. I'm going to get my face up to you. I'm going to stroke you. Tell you how much I appreciate you. But you don't need that from me. What you need is to understand.

I'm a servant of God. And I'm being obedient. Amen.

Let's pray together. Lord, I thank You for Your Word. It does stretch us. Lord, it does convict us. It does confront us. But it also claims us. And it cleanses us.

And so, Lord, I pray today for those that feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that You would help them live obedient so that they would not quench nor grieve the Holy Spirit this week. Lord, answer that in our lives, every one of us. We are simply unworthy servants.

And I bring all my unworthiness to the worthiness of the Son of God. He is worthy. And that's all I need to know.

In Jesus' name. Amen.