Doing Your Duty

Doing Your Duty

Luke 17: 5 - 10

Intro: During a tornado a mother was crying for help. It seems that her son was taken up into the tornado and blown away. The mother turned to heaven and shouted a prayer: “Please, Lord, bring back my son! He’s all I have. I’ll do anything to get him back.”--- Suddenly, her son fell from the sky right at her feet. He was a little shaken, but safe and sound. As the mother joyfully embraced her son, she noticed something was missing. She glared up at the heavens and said, “He had a hat, Lord!” (From Unworthy Servants, by Freddie Fritz, 5/30/15 – SermonCentral.com)

I VS. 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

A. What you may have overlooked is at the end of that sentence there is an exclamation mark. It implies the disciples weren’t just asking for faith; they were demanding it.

B. The response of Jesus in the next verse begins with one little word, “IF.”

C. The Prosperity Gospel – If you pray hard enough and do everything God expects of you, you will get what you want. --- If you don’t get what you want, it is your fault because you don’t have enough faith.

II My question is this, “How much faith is enough?”

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A. People give all sorts of excuses for not achieving something significant for God. I have heard many of them in my ministry.

B. I don’t have that gift, I don’t have enough money, I don’t have enough time, talent, or skills. I don’t have the right spouse, etc.

C. Jesus says in VS. 6 – “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can . . .” Again, I ask, “How much faith is enough?”

III VSS. 7 – 10 contain a parable that leaves some with serious questions.

A. Let me say that Jesus is not approving the practice of slavery in any way. What he is talking about is relationship.

B. Jesus is speaking about duty using the relationship of a master and slave. A slave’s duty is to serve the master without expecting praise or reward for the services rendered.

C. The master of whom Jesus speaks is God and the servant is those who follow Christ. The followers of Christ Jesus must not just talk the talk, . . . they are expected to walk the walk. It is our duty to be faithful to Christ Jesus throughout our live. A servant’s duty is never done.

Concl: I have often said that serving Christ Jesus is never over. Put another way, “It isn’t over until they are shoveling dirt on your face.” You are never too old, too tired, or too anything to stop doing your duty to God. God wants you time, talent, tithe, attendance, etc. The master expects the servants to perform their duties daily! As slavery is a way of life; so also, faith is a way of life of praying, being and acting.