Sermon Tone Analysis

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?

Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and 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 have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

[1]

In this present series of messages, we are considering manly attributes that are valued within the brotherhood of believers.

Let me present a disclaimer at the beginning of this message.

As I acknowledged in a previous message, these attributes that we are considering are not the exclusive domain of males; [2] nevertheless, Christian men especially should ensure that these characteristics are not only esteemed, but they must be encouraged to inculcate them into their lives.

In our study today, we are thinking of duty.

Undoubtedly, one can produce multiple examples encouraging duty in the Word of God.

Undoubtedly, multiple passages can be suggested that plainly speak of duty.

However, I want to think of duty in relationship to God.

I want to encourage us to rethink our view of duty, ensuring that we bring our thinking into line with the will of the True and Living God as revealed in the Word.

In order to accomplish this admittedly weighty task, I ask you to consider the teaching of the Master, delivered at a time when the disciples were asking Him to increase their faith.

THE SETTING FOR THE TEACHING — Jesus had spoken of the cost of discipleship—a teaching that is too frequently neglected in this day [LUKE 14:25-33].

His sobering statement demanding that potential disciples think carefully about the cost of following Him seems to have rocked the disciples.

This statement was followed by a stunning statement obviously related to what had just been said.

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile.

It is thrown away.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear” [LUKE 14:34, 35].

The Master had then delivered a series of parables that spoke of the value of finding life and of the joy in heaven when people are born from above.

He told of a lost sheep [LUKE 15:1-7], a lost coin [LUKE 15:8-10] and a lost son [LUKE 15:11-32].

The manner in which the sixteenth chapter opens leads me to understand that He immediately launched into a parable about a crooked manager [LUKE 16:1-9].

The application of the parable was again undoubtedly sobering.

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money” [LUKE 16:10-13].

The religious elite ridiculed what Jesus had said.

Luke lets us know that they were motived by a love of money.

In their estimate, God was blessing them when they accumulated wealth.

Knowing their hearts, the Master rebuked them [LUKE 16:14-17].

Undoubtedly, Jesus’ words stung these proud arbiters of religious minutiae.

However, He was setting the stage for what was to follow—condemnation far worse than anyone had ever spoken to them.

LUKE 16:18 seems almost undetached, as though Luke was simply collecting a number of sayings and throwing them wherever he could find a place for them.

However, consider the context.

Jesus had just been stressing the transition from what the religious leaders had known to that point—the Law—to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom He was heralding [see MARK 1:15].

He presented an example to emphasise the manner in which the Kingdom of God takes up, confirms and extends the imperatives of the Law and the Prophets.

The religious people had lived under the Law to that point, but it was passing away and the Kingdom of God was being brought into being.

The Pharisees, who should have been leading people into the Kingdom of God, resisted entering in.

His words served as a warning that they were being passed by rapidly, and one example of their failure was the business of marriage and divorce.

Briefly, weigh the example Jesus employed.

From the beginning, God had intended that man and woman would covenant before the Lord to unite their lives.

They were to make a commitment to one another before the Lord God; and they were to keep that commitment inviolate.

To break that commitment and remarry is to commit adultery.

That is how serious this business of commitment is in the eyes of God.

The text punctuates the importance of integrity in one of life’s basic aspects—marriage.

Jesus is hurling a charge at the Pharisees, exposing the perfidy of their hearts.

The Pharisees ridiculed the Master on the issue of money, and Jesus was demonstrating that even in matters lying at the core of human relationship, these paragons of religion were duplicitous and deceitful.

They could not be trusted to show integrity in business, nor in marriage, and both reflect our relationship to God Himself!

The Pharisees scorned one caught in an adulterous affair; and yet, there are accounts of some who had had as many as six wives in serial marriage.

They dismissed one for dubious reasons and picked up another, only to dismiss her to find another.

The Master excoriated them for their lack of integrity and duplicity.

This scathing exposure was quickly followed by the account of the rich man and Lazarus [LUKE 16:19-31].

The story Jesus told, a recitation of an event only He could have known, was delivered as a warning to those listening not to ignore the Word of God.

Note the concluding statement: “If [people] do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead” [LUKE 16:31].

Never forget, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” [HEBREWS 4:12].

Then, turning to His disciples, the Master cautioned that those who would follow Him must guard their hearts and their lives.

“[Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

Pay attention to yourselves!

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, “I repent,” you must forgive him’” [LUKE 17:1-4].

Unlike so many of us who preach today, Jesus was unwilling to excuse sin.

Make no mistake, it is sinful in the extreme to induce another to turn from grace.

Even when we imagine that we are honouring God, if we cause a believer to stumble, we are culpable, and we must answer to God.

The stern position marked out by the Master elicited a collective gasp from the disciples: “Increase our faith” [LUKE 17:5]!

Jesus met this exclamation with hyperbole, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” [LUKE 17:6].

No one wants to uproot a mulberry tree only to cast it into the sea.

The point was not that mulberry trees need to be uprooted, nor even that we should focus our attention on such trivial matters.

The point was that faith leads to dynamic and dramatic events—the transformation of lives, the advance of the Kingdom of God against unimaginable odds, the removal of obstacles in life.

It is at this point that the Master spoke the words of our text.

All these things had taken place in a very short time.

What is important for us today is to note that Jesus’ words concerning our service to God is not a matter that should lead us to boast; rather, our service should lead us to humbly acknowledge the One whom we serve, commit ourselves to fulfilling His will and gratefully receive the mercies He extends to us.

CONSIDER OUR POSITION BEFORE THE LIVING GOD — “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?

Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and 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 have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

In His response to the disciples, the Master made two key points and implied a third.

We will benefit from consideration of what He said and what was left unspoken in this instance.

What Jesus said was in response to the exchange we have just witnessed.

The Pharisees may well have continued lurking on the edges of the crowd—they seem always to have maintained a “truth squad” nearby to attempt to correct the Master, or at least to report on what He said.

However, He spoke in this instance for the benefit of the disciples.

He delivered a stern statement that was intended to refocus their attention on what is truly important.

The first point to remember is that we are servants.

We must remember that He is God, we are not.

We are trained from children to situate ourselves at the centre of our universe.

However, if we will be saved, God must be central—not tangential—to our lives.

It is an axiom of the Faith that, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” [LUKE 16:13].

Jesus uses the term “servants,” or as the footnote observes, “bondservants.”

He is not speaking of individuals born into slavery or who was taken captive in war; rather, a bondservant voluntarily enters into service to the Master.

Thus, the Master addresses His followers as bondservants—people who have bonded themselves to Him to perform whatever tasks He may assign.

Understand, God does not compel service from anyone; however, whenever one enters into discipleship, that one recognises God’s legitimate claim over his or her life.

His disciples have ceded to Him the right over their lives so that they may serve Him as He directs.

The point is more important than you might imagine.

People attempt to seize control of their own lives; we do so almost unconsciously.

No one enjoys being compelled to perform a task, and few truly enjoy the feeling that they have no control.

Wives and husbands struggle to control one another.

Employers and employees struggle to exert control over their work.

Students even endeavour to wrestle control from the teachers.