Written by Efe Abbe
The Word
7 “Will any one of you who has a servant [Or bondservant] plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly,[gird yourself] and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants;[Or bondservants] we have only done what was our duty.’”
Luke 17:7-10 ESV
Reflection
God’s purpose is to form us into the likeness of His Son, including how and why we obey Him. For the right context for our verses, some of us may need to shift our minds from our modern images of corporate manager-subordinate relationships to more Master-Servant relationships, think Downton Abbey. Household servants in a manor or big house wouldn’t have expected any special applause for doing their duties, since a major requirement for being employed was that the Lord and/or Lady of the House remained satisfied with their service. Being in service at one of these great houses was considered a privilege. It would have been absurd for a servant to expect their employer to wait on them after what were long days of really hard work.
God has saved us in Jesus (if we have submitted to Him) into a new life because we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). This new life is one of obedience to Jesus. Without Jesus, we couldn’t even obey God no matter how hard we tried, and now by His Spirit we can! Our regeneration and ability to obey God are a kindness we receive from God, so it would be absurd for us to obey God for any other reason, other than gratitude for who is He is and all He’s given us in Jesus.
While it is gloriously true that because of God’s love for us in Jesus, we who were once sinners are now called His children (John 1:12) and even His friends (John 15:14-15), we can never divorce the Otherness of God from His love and nearness. He is the King who is worthy of absolute devotion because it is His right. When we grasp all He is to us and has given us in Jesus, and that we are unable to remotely repay Him, our only appropriate response is grateful, loyal obedience.
Application
Unlike earthly employers, God supremely reigns over all things with mind-blowing generosity. While He wants our hearts to be postured as servants, He isn’t seeking for us to grovel as we serve Him either. He has actually promised to serve (Luke 12:37) and reward us (Matthew 25:31-40) for being faithful to Him not because we’ve earned it through our obedience, but simply because He generously and graciously has chosen to. This should spur us to obey Him because of His great love for us, even though we are not worthy.
Prayer
Thank You Father for giving me Your Spirit through Jesus, so that I can obey You. Please give me a heart that obeys You in gratitude for who You are and all You have freely given, amen.
City Life Starter 
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