The Parables of Jesus The Parable of the Unworthy Servant

The Parable of the Unworthy Servant

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?" 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?" Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, "We are unworthy servants; we have done only our duty." -- Luke 17:7-10

We need to have a correct view of God's claims upon us, as well as the spirit in which we should meet these claims. Through an overabundance of pride, we can err in our duty, either out of ignorance or due to our manner in which we performed it. God doesn't require meritorious service from us in order for us to be accepted by him, but he does require the obedient homage of all who are accepted of him. The sacrifice of Christ alone is the basis for our acceptance, the evidence of it, and the fruits of practical godliness.

The nature of the service that God requires of us

• Doing the master's work
• God requires that we do his bidding
• As revealed in his word
• According to our abilities
• Obedience of love
• Love, not fear
• Affection, not servile
• Spiritual
• Whole
• Respect for all his commandments
• Obeying all of his will
• Consistent
• Habitual
• Perseverance
• Unto death

The support expected of God

• God gives us the ability to perform the service he requires of us
• God provides daily food for the souls of those in his service
• Bread of life
• Waters of salvation
• Service to God brings satisfaction and peace
• Joy arising from the hope of reward
• Future and eternal glory

God grants us independence in our service to him

• No man can go beyond God's claims to his obedience
• Body
• Soul
• Spirit
• God rewards may extend beyond that earned
• Forever in debt to God
• God is never in debt to man
• God expects us to serve him
• No special thanks are appropriate

Application of the parable

• Humility is required of everyone
• Whatever we do, do for the glory of God

It is good to wait on the Lord

Lamentations 3:22-26




22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord


Your Father loves you. He created you to have fellowship with Him. And, even though we had turned our back on Him he chose and redeemed you through Jesus for you to have fellowship with Him.


Many a time we will come to God with our requests (and rightly so) but sometimes it is good to just "wait on the Lord". To have fellowship with Him and for Him to speak to you.

A right view of the Cross

On Thursday, just before Easter break, at group we went through Isiah 53. This is a prophecy about the suffering servant foretelling Jesus' death. It is a very deep passage with lots of content. We ended the study with the reading of the song Thank you for the Cross.

Even when we turned our backs on You  
In wickedness and lies suppressed Your truth
Even then You showed Your love for us
Giving up Your life upon the Cross

Jesus thank You for the Cross
For the blood that sets us free
The crimson stain of all our sin
Washed away in Your mercy

Enemies of God with no excuse
Knowing what was right we turned from You
Given up to sin condemned to die
Even then You chose to give us life

Everyone of us deserves to die
But You save all who hope
In Your great love.

Brenton Brown Mercy publishing ccli 3447356

Life can be so busy that unintentionally we can get a little complacent about the cross and what it truly mean for Christians.

It was the cross that showed how much God loved us.

I really recommend we have another look at Isaiah 53. As you read, allow the Holy Spirit to talk to you.

When we have we have a correct view of the Cross we no longer fear God has stopped loving us.

Work Place Evangelism

The Public Side of Our Faith

Much of the Christianity that has come down to us today dwells on private spirituality- prayers, private devotions and Bible reading, self-examination and confession, personal holiness, individual acts of charity, and so on. This is all to the good, in as much as Christ is a Person who seeks a relationship with individuals.

But what about the public side of our faith?

· How do we as believers live as Christians in the public arenas- work, community, relationships, civic responsibilities, and so on?

· What about our communities of faith, such as our churches? How vibrant and strategic is our collective witness as God’s people to a watching world?
· In what ways do we as believers influence our society as a whole - its institutions, its needs, and its values? Matt. 14:13-14 TWILSB pp1661

v Daniel 6:5
5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” NKJV – 060312


v Matthew 14:13-14
13 When Jesus heard what had happened to John, he left in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. But the crowds heard about it and followed him on foot from the towns.14 When he arrived, he saw a great crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them and healed those who were sick. NCV

v 2 Timothy 2:1515Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. NKJV

v Ephesians 3:20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

How does our flesh affect the harvest into the Kingdom?

Anthony U. Eradiri
08032012

The Faithfulness of God

Today, at group, we discussed the faithfulness of God.

On the internet is a great website on the subject.

http://whatthebibleteaches.com/wbt_120.htm

A Letter from Christians Against Poverty

During the Christmas Carol Service we took up a collection for Christians Against Poverty. We collected £60.00! To find out more goto http://www.capuk.org.

A Letter of thanks for the gift is below.

THANK YOU

Thank you for your gift!

Below is a thank you letter from one of our clients:

Dear Christians Against Poverty How can we begin to explain the difference CAP has made in our lives? Before CAP I spent every month juggling credit card cheques to pay different debts, and I felt physically sick at the thought of how I would cope. I felt so ashamed that someone like me could ever have allowed our finances to get into such a mess. I had faced three redundancies and each new job meant a drastic reduction in salary. My husband also took early retirement due to ill health so our income dropped even more. I felt an absolute failure; incompetent and unworthy of help. Since we contacted CAP we see a light at the end of our tunnel. We know that we will be totally debt free, an experience I have not known for many years. We know what we have to pay each month and we know our bills and debts are getting paid. The shame I felt about these debts has faded because of all of the wonderful people at CAP. They have shown love, support and understanding without a hint of condemnation. We believe that we were guided to CAP not just to help us find a way out of debt, but to find the loving God who really does love us as we are, debtors and all. Thank you to all at Christians Against Poverty for making it possible for us to enjoy the present and enabling us to look forward to the future. Our love and prayers are with you for your continued success, Mary x

'....and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.' Isaiah 58: 10

Christmas Carol Service Talk

What would you do? Many a time you try and help and make friends with someone and they spurn your help?

What if you knew a better way to do things but you were constantly rebuffed.

Well, so it is with God! He created the world and the world turned its back on Him.

But instead of turning His back on the World, He declared His love and favour! Favour that was undeserved!

It was to shepherds the Good News was first declared. Not Kings, not nobles but down to earth, hard working shepherds.

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”, was the cry of the angels. They were excited.

The Angels declared a Saviour. “A Saviour who is Christ the Lord.” He said.

When Mary was told to name this child Jesus “for he will save His people from their sins.” He would get us out of our mess.

What does favour from God to man look like? It is a gift of unmerited and constant love. Constant love when we mess up.

For unto us a Son is given. This is the gift of love. And isn’t that what real giving is all about. Giving even to what is undeserved.

And that is what God did: He gave of his very own to those who did not deserve it. I know I don’t deserve it.

The often quoted Bible verse says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”John 3:16
.
And so the offer is open to everyone. Like the Christmas story those that heard it were working class shepherds,. What was their response? Let us go, they said.

So what is our response? Shall we go and discover more about who Jesus is? There is a present waiting for us. : “He came to the world that was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God.