Luke 17:5-10

We are beginning to close the circle here on how to produce fruit. We have seen we cannot just stand still; we have got to take action. If we are producing fruit, I can guarantee you we are getting the leaven out and we are overcoming sin. I chose this example because it involves faith, and without faith there will be no fruit.

I want us to notice here that it does not say that the servant is sinful, he is merely unprofitable. Remember at the beginning, Jesus showed us that it was not good enough just to be cleaned up and that being cleaned by God actually leaves a person in a state of vulnerability. The lesson here involves understanding the state or the position we are in relative to God after we are cleaned by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are totally obligated to Him; we do not have a life of our own.

Please think about John 17. When we are cleaned by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are totally obligated to Him. We know longer have a life of our own. We belong to Him. I want us to get this because if we do not understand the position that we are in relative to Jesus Christ, relative to God the Father, we are not going to be able to increase in faith, and if we do not increase in faith, we are not going to grow.

We are dealing with something that has to do with increasing faith. "Lord increase our faith." His answer seems so indirect, but it is not indirect at all. It is very direct. It has to do with recognizing our total obligation to Him. We do not have a life of our own. When the master comes in, what does he say to the slave? "Oh, why do you not eat first." No, the slave's life does not belong to him, it belongs to the master. He is totally obligated, so the master says, "Prepare something for my supper." "But sir, I just came in from the field and have been working since sun up and I am tired, I am dirty." The master says, "You don't have a life of your own. Fix my supper first and then we will see if we can find something else for you to do."

Is that the basis of your attitude toward God, that He has every right to demand of us that we never stop serving Him, ever? That we are obligated to Him in every circumstance? There is never a time that we can walk off the job. There is never a time that we are free to do our own thing. Is that the kind of attitude that you have toward your Savior? Jesus is saying that this is the foundation of growing. We are totally obligated to Him. We do not have a life of our own. We are His slave. We are totally at His beck and call. He has absolute authority over our lives.

This is not all of our relationship with Him, but He is answering the question, "How do you grow?" I think many times we do not have much understanding of this aspect. What Christ is doing is showing us that our duty, our obligation to God never ends. We are never off the job wherever, whenever, or whatever the situation might be. We are called upon to serve Him and no past work that we have done, no past obedience absolves me from what I am now called upon to do.

Paul said that we are to forget the things that are behind and to go forward. When we complete one thing with God, what is God's reward? It is more work. When He gives us a responsibility and then rewards us because we have done that responsibility, the reward is greater responsibility. You see, we have no claim on God! Do you understand that? This is the foundation of our working relationship. Jesus is saying that if we want to grow in faith, we have got to understand where we are in relation to God.

You see, there is subtly, most of the time (and sometimes not so subtly), working a pull on us to declare our independence of God. Do you know why those people in Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8 sinned? Even though they were doing something that was normally their right to do, it was lawful to do, because without realizing it they declared their independence from God. God, who says your first responsibility is to your brother in this case, … . . .