As human beings we have been hard-wired from creation to have numerous thoughts, feelings, and emotions, but two are chief among them all in every single person on earth:
- A fear of dying
- The need to worship something
Not surprisingly these two are often seen linked together, that is to say often what we worship comforts us as we perhaps fear dying, or at least gives us feelings of eternal youth. Money, self, friends, a boyfriend or girlfriend, games, sports, intelligence, even Bible knowledge apart from a Godly lifestyle, all of these can be the hub of our lives. Sadly no sooner do these things that we worship bring us happiness, than do they become old news and then disappear. By default we usually end up being deceived into worshiping ourselves in one variation or another. However, if you could consciously pick one thing to dedicate your life to what would it be?
In the parable of the “unprofitable servants” in Luke 17:7-10, Jesus in his own way told us what we should be doing with our lives, and the attitude we should have while we are doing it. However, there is an amazing unspoken blessing to Jesus’ proposition here, but one had to be paying attention to his previous lessons to grasp them.
The word “you” in the parable reveals that there are two scenarios. First “which of you having a servant…” that is to say; imagine you are the master; however in verse 10 Jesus reverses the second scenario saying “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants’ ”: that is to say; in reality you are the servants! Jesus plainly told us that based on how we would expect a hired hand to act for us, we should do whatever he commands us to do, and not expect a reward for it. Sort of like how the government commands everyone to pay taxes, and does not mail out thank-you cards to those who have done as they were told. However, Jesus is in fact contrasting “you” as a human master and himself as loving master appointed by God! Consider these three differences between how “you” or any other human would treat a servant, and how Jesus in fact treats us:
- We would tend to allow our servants to go hungry before we do; Jesus went hungry 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness because he was unwilling to perform a self-serving miracle (Matt 4:1-4), but he performed one to feed over 5000 fickle followers who had gone hungry no more than one day (John 6:1-15).
- We would not give our servants a choice whether or not to follow our command; Jesus gives us commands, but we are free to choose not to follow them (Matt 16:24 — note the “IF” before the command).
- We would not praise our servants for doing their duty, let alone reward them beyond what they earned; Jesus is offering us the prospect of being rewarded with eternal life despite us being sinners even when we try to follow him (Rom 6:23, Luke 12:32).
If I had to pick one thing to dedicate my life to, it would be to serving a master like this! All other worldly masters dispose of servants when they become unprofitable — this master actually laid down his life for his servants. Who won the gold medal for the 100 m dash in the 1992 Olympics? Who was named “the most beautiful person” by People Magazine in 1992? Who was the world’s first billionaire? Surely anyone of these three achievements would have taken a lifetime of dedication. Sadly the people who the world once idolized are soon forgotten, as a master that moves on to the next servant when the last one has grown too weak to be profitable. Truly even the best positions the world has to offer cannot compare with the honor and pleasure of being a servant in Christ.
Baptism is when we accept the invitation to follow Christ, and by implication forsake all other things that previously controlled our lives. There is a sense of honor in no longer avoiding our duty to totally submit our lives to God. It is also humbling to confess that we are unprofitable servants because we can only give back a life to God that he has given us in the first place; but most of all it is a sense of thankfulness for salvation. We have the work-ethic and attitude of a servant, but with the complete joy that our master is like no other master in this world. Where else can a person go to find a master who would lay down his own life for you, pay you an infinite sum for a mere 70ish years of labor, forgive you when fall short of his commands daily, listen to you any time you need to talk, offer you good advice to live by if you want to spare yourself pain and heartache, and guide you to an ecclesia to keep you company?
Whether or not people are aware of it, we are all looking for a master to dedicate our lives to, but most are far more exacting and much less loving than Jesus, and his Father who sent him.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One