Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Unworthy Servants


The semester is more than halfway through, and I have been keeping busy at UNT.  A couple of weeks ago, I preached my very first sermon.  The audience was only five people: the other interns and Ronnie, who teaches our intern class.  My assignment was to preach out of the gospel of Luke, so I chose Luke 17:1-10.  This passage consists of four short teachings that I thought were especially meaningful for our group of interns.

I want to share the words of Jesus in verses 7-10 with you:
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?  Will 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.’”

Now I know most of us today don’t like to think about servitude.  It’s some form of cruelty from the distant past that we’re too progressive to engage in these days.  But when I think about how we should relate to God, I imagine a servant.  Yes, we are also friends of God and adopted sons and daughters of the kingdom, but those titles are undeserved gifts from God.  Our constant duty is to be God’s servants.

That’s what I’m doing as an intern for Focus.  I serve God when I do one-on-one studies with young women, when I plan lessons for Core meetings, when I plan events, and even when I do the tedious but necessary administrative tasks that help run our ministry.  

Luke 17:10 says, “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.’”  I haven’t even come close to doing everything God has told me to do.  But in everything, I remember that I am an unworthy servant, only doing my duty.

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