We are starting a new series today called Faithful Servants and it's really a Description of of who we are the greatest compliment that will ever get Assigned to you is that you are a servant of the living God and Try to illustrate that a little bit what I mean by that. Let me tell you a story about my best friend in high school His name is Chuck Chuck Pettit My high school when I was a senior our baseball team won the only state champions that the Dresden Lions have ever won in any sport and It was my senior year and Chuck was on the baseball team and There was a four team a double elimination tournament to kind of settle who's gonna win the state and We beat all the three other teams that we went in three games and in the third and final game standing on second base was my friend Chuck Pettit and And peanut wind hit a line drive into left field and Chuck came around and slid into home and scored the game winning run of the only state championship that my high school has ever won He was it was his moment of glory It was his glory day Now the interesting thing about that is this Chuck is did not hit his way on the base It's a matter of fact he did not have a place in the batting lineup He did not play in the field Chuck was was called a courtesy runner now courtesy runner for those of you who don't know is Something they do to speed up the game when the catcher Get's a bat gets a hit and gets on base the catcher can call time out and ask for a courtesy runner Then he can come into the dugout and he can put on all his body armor that he has to wear to be the catcher and A courtesy runner comes out and runs in his place runs for him So my friend Chuck was the courtesy runner if you go back and you look at the stat book From that championship game you won't see his name anywhere in it He didn't get a hit. He didn't get a walk. He didn't steal a base. He has zero statistics. He didn't make a single out But he scored the winning run of the only championship my high school's ever won Now there's two ways he can look at that He could be mad. He didn't have a place. He was a senior. There were a lot of juniors and sophomores that were starting He could be angry that he didn't have a place in the batting lineup He could be sullen that he's not in the stat book He can pout that he doesn't get any of the glory the guy that he was running for one Mr. Baseball the top award for any baseball player in the state that year The guy that he was running for got a full scholarship to play baseball in college Chuck didn't get any of that He could be angry that you know I helped this guy get all this stuff and he's he's getting it off my back Or he can just be delighted That he got to score the winning run and it's just a matter of how he sees it It's a matter of how he wants to feel about it the facts aren't gonna change I Say all that to say this You are a servant of the living God And that can either be the best news that you can ever hear the greatest good you'll ever be part of or You can be sullen You can be angry that some people get it better than you some people get Look better than you some people have more money than you some people have get more honor than you in the church Some people get more honor than you in the world You can be angry about that if you want To put it another way you can look at the people around you and feel better or worse than them and be angry about it or you can look at the living God And be delighted That he allows you into his family that you get to serve in his church and Really it's all up to you It's all up to you We celebrated Christmas this year and the they obviously we celebrate Christmas ever we do that every year The the logo we use the the graphic we use was a picture of Mary and you may have saw it out in the Lobby today, I just couldn't stand it take it down. I just love it so much So I just decided what the heck let's just celebrate Christmas for a few more weeks and and I left it up because it's such a beautiful image and And One of the things that you love about Mary was her response when the angel told her that she was going to as a virgin conceive and and have the Messiah Her response was I am the servant of the Lord The the person we look to is one the holiest one of the most special people on the face of the earth who have ever lived Her attitude was I am the servant of the Lord Whatever you say about me, I will do and that's what we want your your attitude to be That's what I want my attitude to be. I'm the servant of the Lord Whatever he asks I will do and that's a glorious place to be So with that in mind, let's look at the word of God from from Luke chapter 17 Please stand for the word of God here the word from Luke chapter 17 verses 7 through 10 This is Jesus speaking to his disciples Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he's come in from the field come at once and recline at my table Will he not rather say to him prepare supper for me dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink and Afterward you will eat and drink does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also when you've done all that you were commanded say we are unworthy servants We have only done what was our duty This far the word of God please be seated the greatest thing that will ever be said about us is that we were servants of the living God Unprofitable unworthy Servants of the living God How do you receive that? Before we jump into it, let's look at the context for a moment We're in Luke chapter 17 and Jesus has just finished teaching about forgiveness and he has said to his disciples If your brother sends against you forgive him if he sends against you and Again and again and comes to you in repentance and comes to you you must forgive him if he Sends against you seven times and seven times comes to you and confesses and repents forgive him Now the disciples are struck by how hard that would be and they give a very Christian e response I mean they give just the perfect Sunday school response Lord Increase our faith. I want to do it, but give me the grace to do it Give me the faith to do that And Jesus looks at him and says you don't need more faith I Mean ought takes the faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain faith First of all isn't some kind of thing that that earns you credit faith is just trusting God to do something for you You can trust him a little or trust him a lot. He'll still do it for you. You don't need more faith What you need is to ask yourself who do you think you are? You need to remember who you are if you're having trouble forgiving somebody it's probably because you think you're better than them You need this reminder You need to stop looking at the people around you and Jesus with his gracious yet penetrating words says you need to remember you are an unworthy servant remember that That's what you need in order to live the Christian life And the first thing I want you to see is is our place learning our place. We're unworthy servants Jesus says will any of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he comes in from the field Come at once and recronet the table No, he would rather say to him prepare supper for me dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink Afterward you will eat and drink does he thank the servant? Because he did what was commanded It means no, of course you did what was commanded. You did your job. You're a servant You're an unworthy servant now for us to understand that we have to kind of go back into that time and remember what life was like You had two kinds of people in that day you had people with land and capital and they were wealthy There were lords and then you had people who worked for them and they were servants and the servants 100% Depended upon the lords. They didn't have land. They couldn't go farmer if they wanted to they didn't have cattle They didn't have sheep they didn't have other things they could do to get a job They didn't have public education to get them trained they didn't have internships to go to work at all They have were these lords to work for they were completely dependent upon them the only thing separating a person from Object poverty and starvation was the grace of a Lord who had given them a job It's actually not that different even today in some parts of the world a friend of mine is a It's a missionary. He has a pastor's college in Malawi Africa and called African Bible College and he was back over in the States and he brought one of his students with him And it was kind of touring around to the churches that support him and You know introducing them to this student so they could kind of see part of what the work that he was doing and One morning he was awakened to hear his student Yelling at this woman they were staying with they would stay in different people's houses across the country And he heard his student yelling at this woman and he goes downstairs and he finds her Preaching and berating this woman because she has a dishwasher and And she's saying to her lady It is very wrong for you to have this dishwasher Someone with your means and your wealth should not be washing her own dishes You could pay someone to wash your dishes There are poor people that you could be giving a job to if you would just pay them to wash your dishes for you Now he doesn't really get America yet, you know There's not people standing in line to wash our dishes. We get that and everybody has dishwashers are both people But you know that that's his his context. He's coming from a place where if you're poor you've got nothing And if the people who live around you the people who have money if they want to do their own dishes if they want to Men their own clothes, then you've got nothing so out of the grace literally out of their own grace They let you wait on them so that you will have a job A PBS or actually a BBC television show that a lot of people were watching these last few years really demonstrates that well it's called Downton Abbey And in the show you have the Lord of the Manor his name is Lord Grantham and he gets it He understands that everybody not only in his house But everybody in his village is completely dependent upon him for their well-being He completely supports that village's economy Everybody there either farms his land or services his manor or they serve the people, you know They they service the people who farm their lands you have the farmers and you have the people who work in the manor and Everybody there is dependent upon him if he wanted to farm his own land if he wanted to just take his money and go live in London and a smaller house They would all be left to poverty They all depend upon him and
Within that manner you have two kinds of servants and that's really where all the drama and the intrigue of the show comes right you have Some servants kind of represent about it guiding Thomas who's all who are always looking at the other servants and They're always man They're always thinking I deserve special treatment. Why am I a footman? I should be a valet why do I have to take orders from the butler why don't why can't I be the one who has the land Why and he's always conniving trying to get a special treatment and and doing things even one scene He steals the owner the master's dog just so he can find be the hero who finds the dog who so he can get special treatment And he's always bitter on the other hand you have other Servants kind of represented by guiding baits and everybody just loves who understand that I Oh everything to Lord Grantham If he didn't give me this job, I would be in poverty I'm not adding anything to him. This is his land his manner his clothes his money I'm completely dependent upon him. I don't add anything. That's what the old King James version you should say Unprofitable servant you're an unprofitable servant. You don't profit God anything. You're not adding anything to him You are just 100% dependent upon his great Do you get that? Do you get that that's who you are? God loves you and he's gracious, but he's not lucky to have you on his team He didn't like come to you and find you to be the number one draft pick You're not making his team, but he's not gonna finally achieve a Christian nation because he's got you You don't add any you don't add anything the only thing you bring to his team is your sin your shortcomings your failures You don't add anything to the glory of the God of the universe and We need to understand that and the question is What would be sullen Are we gonna look at the other Christians around us and and be mad at them and jealous of them because they have it better than us and wonder why God is Blessing them and not us Or are we gonna be grateful Are we gonna look at the Lord and speak over well that he would love us He wants me around him. He lets me be part of his church. He's gonna let me score the run even though I did nothing to get on base He's gonna let me be part of this Do you understand that do you understand who he is and who you are and One because once we learn our place once we learn what it means that we're unprofitable servants then we begin to receive grace We begin to receive it we begin to Receive open our hands up and realize we have nothing to offer in our hands are empty so he can fill them What does he say he says so also when you've done everything that you were commanded say we are unprofitable are unworthy We have no worth. We don't add any worth to you. We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty now? Jesus is the master of the understatement, right? So just think about what he says there so you when you've done everything you were commanded That's the average day for you, right when you've done everything you were commanded Say I'm only an unprofitable servant. I've only done my duty. Think about that. What would that mean? That would mean this You wake up in the morning and your first thought is this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it and you're you begin today worshiping the Lord and praising him Not because you have to not because that's what good Christians do, but because you just love him and Then you go and before your family wakes up you go and you prepare them breakfast and you wake them up because you just love them You're just serving them and Then you go to work and you work hard and you are thankful for your job and when your boss comes in he says something mean to you you pray for him You love him When Somebody cuts you off in traffic you bless them you pray for them When the other people at work are talking or gossiping you don't share in that gossip and you Encourage them to pray for the person that they're gossiping about when you When every conversation that you have you're giving glory to the Lord you're you're sharing the gospel whenever you can every time When you're driving down the highway home from work and you see the billboard from hooters or whatever and instead of Having any kind of lustful thoughts you pray for that girl and you pray that God would give her dignity When you drive by homes that you wish for yours that you think man that as a beautiful home or you see a beautiful car that you could never afford you Thank God for blessing that person When you hear someone else getting a job that you wanted or getting a promotion that you wanted you Think God for them isn't it wonderful that God would bless you that way and you're just glad for them and you in no way think man That should have been me that is not ever You come home you you you serve your family you bless them you go to bed you've done everything right one hundred percent of the time You know what you've done on that day what you were supposed to do Congratulations you did your duty Good for you you get no credit you did your duty You get that You don't get credit in this game. It's not like it's kind of like dieting You know I went to a buffet over Christmas and I went to a couple several buffets over Christmas And I passed up so many foods I passed up plates of fudge I passed up huge plates of cobblers You don't get any credit for what you don't eat I Gained weight despite all the I mean if they were fair I would have lost 20 pounds of a Christmas based on what I didn't eat But instead I gained five pounds based on what I did eat Right there's you don't get credit for what you don't do You don't get credit for anything you're you're just doing what you ought to have done You can understand that we don't Anything in God's economy he's given it all to us if we had a perfect day. We would have just have done what we were supposed to do And that's hard for us to understand It really is I you can see in the different ways One of the ways I see it I eat this used to happen to me a lot when I was a college minister at least it happened to me enough that I had a standard response to it actually at least once a year I'd be meeting with some guy Maybe our first meeting he would be telling me his spiritual biography and Inevitably, you know, he wanted to meet with me because that's what the cool Christians do and he wants to tell me about all the things that he's done And there were always a president of FCA inevitably. They're always you know, I was a president of FCA There's nothing wrong with that But these guys are always gonna really proud of that and they were always you know the Christian in the high school and yada yada yada and and That's all great glad I'm glad you are you have they wanted me to know how glad I was they were in our uf basically, but um And I would always end those meetings, but say what saying how can I pray for you? And at least once a year I would get this response I need you to pray for me that I would be more humble I'm really struggling with my pride and I got to where my standard response to that was I would laugh You You're struggling with pride. Have you looked in a mirror? You Are you kidding me? No way. You don't even have your friends here I'm about to help if you notice, but you're not bringing anybody with you and you come to are you have nobody to follow you struggle with pride And they would read would you start coming up to throat and they'll get so angry and That would stop and they say oh you're I'm sorry. I thought you wanted to be humbled You don't really want to be humbled in oh You just want to say a christiany thing You don't want real humility you want to say that you want need humility. Oh Sorry, I took you seriously. We just think we've earned something don't we? We kind of think we're special I do I think I'm very special I a few years ago we were in Dallas and Just back when I was I was still convinced I was some kind of christian superstar and I could plan a church like that So I was pastoring a church here And I was trying to plan a church in a was so because I'm cool like that and you know, that was a disaster, but We were in Dallas, and I was tired Our present days meet meet on Friday night and Saturday mornings We had to stay the night and I got up in the Saturday morning, and I was feeling sorry for myself like I always do and pretty much every Saturday and I was walking to the car. I was praying and I was honestly I was actually in earnest I said Lord, I'm just gonna pour everything out for you. It's all yours. I'm tired. I'm preaching twice on Sundays I'm not with my families my weekend. I didn't get to see my family all weekend And get to be with my wife last night. That's all right It's for you, and you love me, and I'm just I'm pouring everything out for you Now walk around the corner of the hotel and I saw my car And my car window had been bashed out and My my Garmin my GPS thing would have been stolen Shane had left his briefcase in the car his laptop had been stolen and I looked up at God and I said really that's how you're gonna pay me back after everything I've done for you That was just great. I love it when you say something that's stupid. You know, it's just awesome when you say something that dumb and you're like, oh Wow, you know at least God didn't let me go down that stupid road long It's like a nice gracious general jerk of the chain. Okay, I get it I forgot for a moment. You're the one who's done everything for me That whole giving your eternal son away because of my sin thing I get it You're the one who's given to me. I'm sorry for being a moron Thank you for another day. We just don't believe it, dude We're unprofitable servants and when we begin to think that we're you know God owes us something That bitterness comes up That unforgiveness comes up That arrogance comes up That when we remember that he's given everything to us That's where where our joy comes from that's where our hope comes from that's where our grace comes from What are you gonna be selling? Are you gonna look at everybody else and what they've gotten and feel guilt? Feel mad feel left out or are you going to be amazed that God lets you be on the team? He loves you When you're amazed then not only do you get to receive his grace you get to serve with joy Once we understand who we are it changes the way we serve and it changes the way we see him We begin to serve him for him not for ourselves There's a old legend that Elizabeth L. It tells of Jesus with his disciples And he asks them he says we I need you all to pick up a rock for me. I need you. I'm gonna ask you all to carry a rock for me And so Peter's like great. It's carry rock today. It's great So he finds the smallest pebble he can find and puts in his pocket and they walk and they take off walking And then they walk all morning and it's lunchtime and they're tired and they're hungry And they sit down and he says sit down and Jesus gathers them around and he turns their bread into stone So whichever size rock they picked they get to eat that for meal And so Peter has a real little lunch And then as after lunch he says I need you to carry a stone for me. So Peter's like I get it And he goes and gets the biggest rock he can find Huge boulder and puts it on his shoulders. You don't have a good supper and they walk all afternoon and they sit down about four o'clock and He says it's supper time. I need you all to go and throw your rock in the river and They all go and throw there and Peter throws his big boulder in the river and his face is angry and Jesus says Peter I Asked you to pick up a stone for me Were you carrying it for me or were you carrying it for you? Why do you serve the Lord? Are you doing it for you? Are you doing it to get him off your back? Are you doing it? So he'll see how good you are and bless you in some way? Or do you just love it? You just love it? Are you just overwhelmed by how gracious he's been to you? Are you just thankful to get to be on the team? Because once you really understand who you are and the impossibility of you adding anything to him You begin to be overwhelmed by his grace But the fullness of his grace isn't in this parable. I Wasn't there, but I have a very strong suspicion that Jesus told this story with a gleam in his eye Is what does he say? What kind of master? After his servants have come in from the field. What kind of master would say to them sit here while prepare you a meal? What kind of master would say here? You just recline while I go and wait on you nobody would do that But what does Jesus end up revealing? And John chapter 13 on the last night when he was with his disciples He brought them all around and he set them around the table and Then he got up and he took off his road And he got wrapped a towel around himself and he took on the role of the servant. He their master He their lord. He washed their feet a Grace you would never expect a grace you would never ask for a grace you would never hope for what kind of master would do that the same kind of master who would give his only son His most precious possession his most precious thing Would give his son because he is found out that his servants have been stealing from him because he has found out that his servants have been Lying to him. He's found out that his servants have been true or are mad and are plotting to overthrow him They don't want to be servants anymore And instead of punishing them he gives his own son to pay their fine He's that kind of master. He's that gracious Isn't it amazing that we have a god like that and he lets you be his servant And the greatest good you'll ever do His beat is serving his house Will you receive that please pray with me our gracious master? You are the lord of the manner, but you're much more than that. You are the lord of the universe And you love us And you've given your son for us
Master I pray We just thank you pray to give us eyes to see how gracious you've been to us We confess or we do we think we're better than the people around us We look at each other instead of looking at you and pray that you're grace would change that and you give us the joy of knowing That you are the master who's more gracious than anything we do that we would have ever hoped or imagined For some Jesus name that we pray