Oct. 6, 2013, 20th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 17:5-10

  5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
    6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
    7 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 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.' "

Three distinct messages for us from these words:
1.  The life of faith demands avoidance of actions that may harm others, and forgiveness of others whose actions harm us.
2.  Faith is not only conciliatory; it is also daring, risking, doing big things with little resources.
3.  Servants are called to selfless performance: getting the job done           the master wants done, with little concern for getting the credit.
 “There is no limit to what a good person can do if they don’t care who gets the credit.”  We are called to be servants not celebrities.
And to be thankful that we can be Jesus’ servants.

“Only Done Our Duty”

When we have done every thing we can do we have only done our duty, and even then we are not worthy to be called children of God.  We are never good enough to be worthy of that!

It is our duty to do what God calls us to do - to forgive as we have been forgiven!

“Those who live by forgiveness must in fact live by it.”

That means we don’t just receive it; we pass it on.

Grace brings duty; duty becomes grace.

This is what the Kingdom of heaven is all about, and those who are servants of the Master are duty bound to be faithful instruments of grace.