Parables of Grace: The Parables of the Unworthy Servant and the Ten Lepers | Guest Speaker: Davis Lee

So it is good to be here.

We've been away the last three Sundays.

It's just a little bit odd to be gone that long and then come back, and here I am.

I've got to preach.

We've been visiting family, we've been on vacation.

It's good to be back, and it's really good to have Russ and Christy back.

We've we've missed them.

Even though we haven't been here, we've still missed you guys.

So last week we were at the beach.

We go to the same beach every year.

We go with our family.

So we were down a couple this year because our daughter has got a brand new baby, but there were still 10 of us at the beach.

And we enjoy it, but we really look forward to going to the beach every year.

So Lynn and I, we're not big planners, but we do do a little bit of planning before we go to the beach.

This year we were we had we had a night out.

We were going to Target and Costco.

We went to REI and I'm a kite person.

How many of you are kite people when you go to the beach?

So we're in REI and I see this display is these really nice looking and expensive kites, but I'm looking at them and I you know I'm starting to read the label and it it's it says so the first thing on the label says spars are bungee connected.

So that is that to me sounds like a pretty sophisticated kite.

And then easy assembly, that's good.

Then flies in the winds of 4 to 25 miles per hour.

That's good.

Long flowing tail that included for stability.

And the tail, by the way, you got to know this, it had snaps.

It actually snapped onto the kite.

I'm thinking that's pretty cool.

Packs in a lightweight carry case, and this is good for me because I like carry cases and pockets, and so it's just a little carrying case, hours of fun on windy days, and most important, easy to fly.

So sold.

And oh, by the way, really look good.

So bought this kite, it's a little expensive, but it's gotta be good because it's from REI.

And so a couple of weeks before the beach, we're really anticipating.

We we get to the beach.

I've been looking forward to getting out that first day, Monday.

We're gonna fly this kite.

So I'm excited.

Um, my grandson's excited, he's four, he's gonna fly the kite.

So we get out, we sit down, we put the thing together.

It was easy to put together, and the the bungee connected tent poles worked.

We get this kite together, we go out, and by the way, there are two ways to fly a kite.

One, you can run down the beach, or you can just hold it up and launch it.

I'm a launch person, so I'm holding it up.

I got enough wind, let it go, and it climbs, it climbs, and then all of a sudden just nosedives into the ground.

And I'm thinking, okay, I've flown kites before, I can do this, so I make some adjustments, launch it again, it goes up, it goes up and nosedives right into the ground.

So I'm going on for I don't know, 15 or 20 minutes trying to fly this thing, and finally I've made all these adjustments, nothing's working.

Sit down, I get on the internet.

How do you fly, kite?

Nothing.

Even my four-year-old grandson's coming up and giving me advice.

He said, Pop, you really need to run down the beach.

Um, didn't work.

So we finally give up.

I'm thinking, maybe not enough wind.

So I'm looking at the weather forecast, and Wednesday, there's gonna be a thunderstorm.

And so I'm thinking, thunderstorm, wind, I know what you're thinking, lightning.

But that's okay, we want to fly the kite.

So we go out and we launch it, goes up and nosedives right into the ground.

Does that two more times, and finally we get a gust of wind, and I get it up and it climbs and it climbs, and finally I get it up enough.

I'm thinking, no way that it's gonna nosedive to the ground because it's too far.

But it's up there doing this thing, just flying all over the place, but that's okay.

So we fly it, I give it to my grandson, he gets to hold it, he's pretty excited, and it really looks good.

So after a few minutes, you know, you get tired of holding.

We we tie it to the tent, so it's up there flying, and we go off and do our thing.

And I don't know, about 15 or 20 minutes later, he comes to me and he says, uh, pop kite's in the water.

It had crashed, so I can't tell you how disappointed I was.

Here I here I bought this really nice kite from REI, and it's basically a dud.

And so this morning we're gonna talk about faith.

I had faith in REI, it didn't quite work out, uh, they didn't meet my expectations exactly.

But we're gonna talk about uh faith and the disciples in particular asking for more faith.

And uh we'll we'll talk about how Jesus responds to him, and it's and it's kind of interesting.

So I they're somewhere up in the northern kingdom, they are um 40 to 70 miles from Jerusalem.

Before we do that, though, I want to pray.

Let's let's pray real quick.

Heavenly Father, thank you that uh we can be here this morning.

Um thank you that we can worship you.

Thank you for your your love and your grace, and uh I just pray this morning that uh even as I'm here um sharing your word, um as fallible as I am, I pray that uh that you would speak through me and and also speak to me and that that your word would be manifest this morning.

So the uh if we if we look at the scripture, verse 5, the very first verse, the apostles say to the Lord, increase our faith.

And it's like, well, why why are they asking that?

Why are they asking for their faith to be increased?

And a couple of possibilities, maybe.

Um is he had just talked with them about temptation and sin.

So maybe it's that, well, gosh, if he increases our faith, if Jesus increases our faith, I'm gonna sin less.

And that's a good thing.

So maybe that was a reason.

Or, you know, they're involved in Jesus' ministry.

Maybe they just want to be more effective in Jesus' ministry.

Um, not sure, but it could be either one of those things.

But it's it's it's the same kind of struggle I think I have that we have.

It's like, you know, how can I be a better person?

How can I sin less?

Um I be a better believer.

Maybe if I just had more faith, maybe if I had more faith, I could be a better person.

Um so I want more faith so I can do more, so I can be more.

But do you do you hear the little subtlety there?

I want more faith, so I can be more.

Um that that really sounds a little bit like me performing.

I I want to be a better person.

I want to be able to perform better, so maybe if I have a little bit more faith, I can.

Um maybe if I have more and do more, then maybe I can be more.

And and what that is, is merit.

And we're gonna we're gonna talk about that more in a minute.

Um I think it's it's kind of all in the for all of us in the back of our minds at least.

If if I can be successful, if I can be important, then maybe I can be significant, but yet that that's not necessarily what I the gospel is all about, and we'll talk about that.

So, how does Jesus respond?

In verse 6, he says, and the Lord said, and I love this, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and plant it in the sea, and it would obey you.

And I think we think, well, gosh, I just need more faith.

I need at least as much faith as a mustard seed.

So, how much is that?

I'm like, what is Jesus saying there?

So I I did a little bit of work on this, and I went out and got some seeds.

This is not a mustard seed.

That is an avocado seed, and that is a big seed.

So I'm gonna put it up there.

I hope, yeah.

By the way, that that seed weighs, I didn't actually weigh it, I looked it up on Wikipedia.

That that seed weighs, it's gonna fall off.

That seed weighs about one-third of a pound.

I'm not sure it and it might not weigh that much, but it's a it's a big seed.

So this is a mustard seed, and I bought brought several because I'm likely to drop it.

I'm not even sure.

Can anybody even see that?

Okay, I'm gonna put it over here.

That weighs, and I I I looked this up, that weighs one millionth of a pound.

Pretty impressive.

So, what is it that that Jesus is saying here?

Um I think it's pretty simple.

He's basically saying it does not take much faith, just faith of a mustard seed.

Another way to say that would be it just takes an itty-bitty faith.

Um, and in all likelihood, I have enough faith.

In all likelihood, you have enough faith.

I mean, the fact that we're even here this morning suggests that we have at least an itty-bitty faith.

For me, I for me, that's very comforting because that means I don't have to, which is the way I've always interpreted this verse, I've got to somehow conjure up more faith.

Because a mustard seed faith is really good because it'll move a mulberry tree into the ocean.

Um, but I need more.

And but but that's not what he's saying.

He's saying an itty-bitty faith is enough.

So even when I'm weak, which I am, and my efforts are feeble, which they are, um you know, an itty-bitty faith is is enough.

But I am kind of like the disciples.

I do want more.

Um, and you know, you kind of wonder, well, is is that okay to want more?

But you gotta ask, like we did a minute ago, more what?

More faith?

But more, what's behind that?

What's behind the more faith?

What is it that I really want?

And and I think just to kind of cut to the bottom line, when when I peel everything away, what I really want is more contentment, more happiness, um, more rest.

And and the Hebrews had a word for that.

It's shalom.

And uh I found this great article on shalom, it's really long, but it's it's a hard word to interpret.

Um, so I think you know, we usually interpret it as peace, but that that doesn't do it.

Um shalom is really God's word for harmony with God, but I really like this.

A person said, shalom is total satisfaction in life.

And isn't that what we all want?

Total satisfaction in life.

And and I think it's okay to be in a place where where we want that, where we want total satisfaction in life, where we want shalom, because it's it's the it's the desire for that shalom that ultimately leads us to Jesus.

Um so Jesus begins to teach about that more in this parable that we see.

Um I'm gonna lay out the parable like this.

It's like Jesus saying, You want more faith, you want more?

First, we need to adjust our perspectives, and then we need to manage our expectations.

So we see in verse 7, Jesus starts with this parable.

Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him, when he has come in from the field, Come at once and recline at the table.

Will he not rather say to him, Prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you shall eat and drink.

Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, We are unworthy servants.

We have only done what was our duty.

I think he's saying for the servants, that the servant or the worker, we'll talk more about that in a minute, have no basis to say, my effort should be appreciated.

And I think this parable is a little tough for us because in most cases, um, I don't know, I've spent a good portion of my life feeling underappreciated.

I think we all struggle with that to some degree, underappreciated at work, underappreciated from the kids, underappreciated from our spouse.

Um, and Jesus is saying for the servants here, the workers and the owner, the master, um, you know, there's no basis at all for them to feel underappreciated.

So it may be better for us to think of the servant as a worker, because we don't quite connect with servants, and and and servants are a bad thing in our society.

Back then, not so much.

So if we think of it as a worker, a worker with no merit, that is out in the field working all day doing what their job is, doing what they're supposed to do.

Um there's the understanding here is that the worker does not have merit.

Um, they would never expect the master to serve them simply because they had worked all day.

That's kind of hard for us.

So, a couple of couple of examples.

Um in my house, take out the trash.

So, taking out the trash affords me no merit with my wife.

In fact, if I don't take it out, I might have demerits.

So, no, and no one would assume I'm some incredible husband simply for taking out the trash because that's my duty.

That's what I'm supposed to do.

Or imagine you have an employee who's worked all day long, they've they've come into your office at the end of the day reporting on their activities of the day, and uh you say, come in, sit down, come sit down at my desk, put your feet up on the desk, I'll run out and get some wine and cheese and serve you.

That's kind of that's a little bit weird.

Um, you're kind of expecting that employee to do what they're hired to do, to do what they're compensated for.

And at some point you'll have an annual review, maybe they'll get a pay raise, and guess what?

That pay raise will be called a merit raise.

Because maybe they've done more than they were supposed to do, but we don't we don't think of serving them.

Um John Piper says this the servants are unworthy in the sense of not having the authority to command themselves.

Disciples respond to God just as you're us just as slaves respond to their master.

Worth or usefulness is defined by the believer's relationship to God.

Slaves bring nothing to their tasks as servants.

So where does that leave us?

Obviously, in this parable, we are the worker.

Um do I trust Jesus to command my life?

By the way, did you see that the song we sang?

Sam, I noticed this this morning, alive in you and the the chorus there, where it's talking about you are God, you are the great I am, and then down toward the bottom it says sovereign over every step.

That's sovereign over every step of our lives.

That means Jesus is is there always.

And I think that's part of what Piper's trying to get across.

That's certainly what Jesus is trying to get across.

That master is there taking care of the servant, and the servant is just doing what they're supposed to do.

They're just doing their duty.

Um, do I trust Jesus to command my life?

Um He's a lot more capable of commanding my life than I am.

And it's the the problem I have is kind of getting in sync with that.

That that is, I think that's the challenge for all of us as believers.

Um typically what happens with me is I have realistic about realistic, unrealistic expectations about my life with him, because I I kind of tend to sometimes think it's all about me and what I want and what I think I need.

So I looked up unrealistic expectations, and Forbes magazine had a few of them, and I've done a few of these.

So here are some unrealistic expectations that we have in life.

Like, number one, life should be fair.

When my kids used to come to me and say, Dad, that's not fair, I would say, so what's your point?

Because it's, and they didn't like that.

Um we we all feel like life should be fair to me.

And by my by the way, my definition of fairness.

Um, another unrealistic expectation, everyone should be like me.

In fact, you know, I was egotistical enough when I was younger to think that they were, they thought like me and behaved, and it's just it's that's totally wrong.

Um another unrealistic expectation is people should agree with me.

And if if they don't, I'm gonna try to argue them into agreeing with me.

That doesn't work out very well.

Or people know what I'm trying to say, we just assume that.

That's an unrealistic expectation because most of the time they don't.

Um, here's a good one.

Unrealistic expectation.

More things will make me happy, and I think we all struggle with that one because stuff, we we tend to accumulate stuff, and it just doesn't work.

Or another one, um, unrealistic expectation.

I can change him or I can change her, and um I think we all know that doesn't work out very well.

So, great quote here.

This is not out of the Bible, and this is not a Christian quote, but it's a good one.

What screws us up in life is the most is the picture in our head about the way it's supposed to be.

So, what screws us up in life the most is the picture in our head about the way it's supposed to be.

And so we we create expectations about the way we should think it, the way we think it should be.

That expectation is not met, kite in the in the flying, and then we're disappointed.

And sometimes when we're disappointed, we don't handle that very well.

So I think one of the things Jesus is saying here with the uh with the servant, um, the worker, is is the worker, us, we we need to adjust our expectations.

We need to need to think, um, we might not get everything we want, or we might not get everything that we think we need, even.

John Newton said this, he said, everything is need, everything is needful that he sends.

Nothing can be needful that he withholds.

That's such a great quote.

Everything is needful that he sends.

Nothing can be needful that he withholds.

An itty-bitty faith is enough.

And this is humbling.

Our culture tells us just the opposite, that if we work hard, if we try hard, and if we do that enough, then we'll get what we want.

And Jesus is telling us we have still, when we have still done all that is commanded, we are still unworthy servants.

And that kind of hurts.

I don't want to be an unworthy servant.

Um, but you know what?

Isn't that the truth?

Isn't that the truth?

Aren't we really unworthy?

And that's okay.

I kind of like that.

Maybe not what we want to hear, but actually it points to our desperate need for the gospel.

And then you actually see the gospel in this parable in verse 8.

Did you see it?

Afterward you will eat and drink.

Afterward you will eat and drink.

So he's basically saying, you're going to receive what you need.

You might not receive what you want, or you might not receive what you think you want, but you're going to receive what you need.

And you know what?

That's been true in my life.

I've gone through some really difficult times, never missed a meal.

Now, not all of us can say that, but but I think to put it in perspective, if if Jesus is who he says he is, he can take care of me, and he's promised to do that.

It's hard for me to believe that.

If that's true, we can rest, and even more than getting what we need like a child, we're getting what we deep down really so desperately want, even if we don't fully recognize it, and that's that shalom.

Here's a good one.

Grace is unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver.

And that's Jesus.

He doesn't have to do any of that, but he does, and we're the recipients.

And so the gospel tells us that Jesus, by the way, is much more interested in our companionship than he is in our efforts.

So nitty-bitty faith is enough.

And then, and we're about to wind down here, then Jesus heals the ten lepers, and we can't leave this out because it really ties this whole passage about faith together.

In verse 11, on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance.

By the way, the lepers were standing at a distance because that's what they're supposed to do.

They're untouchables, they're contagious, or so it was believed.

And they lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

See, do you see that?

Even those ten lepers, they had an itty-bitty faith.

Maybe they knew sort of who Jesus was and who he had done.

So they reach out, they reach out to him.

And notice, notice what happens.

Verse 14, when Jesus saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests.

And as they went, they were cleansed.

So they weren't healed right away.

They weren't healed until they actually left and began to go to the priests.

And then they were cleansed.

And again we see that the faith that they had in Jesus was maybe it was small, but it was enough.

Except for one.

Except for one.

He turned around and came back because I don't know.

Why did he come back?

Why did the one turn around to come back?

And oh, by the way, he was a Samaritan.

So not only was he a leper and outcast, but he was a Samaritan and despised.

Maybe I think there's only one possibility that he had to have recognized who Jesus was and he wanted more than physical healing.

I think he wanted Jesus.

And you see that because when he turned around and came back, what did he do?

He worshipped Jesus.

He fell down at Jesus' feet and worshiped him.

And Jesus said, Were not ten cleansed?

Where are the nine?

Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner, this Samaritan?

And he said to him, Rise and go your way.

Your faith has made you well.

Isn't that a weird thing to say?

Because wasn't he already healed?

And Jesus is telling him, Your faith has made you well.

And oh, by the way, I don't know that he had a tremendous faith, but he had enough.

So what is Jesus saying there?

He's saying, Your faith has made you well.

He was already healed, by the way.

Your faith has made you well.

You have found satisfaction in life.

You have found Jesus.

An itty-bitty faith has turned into worship, and then worship has turned into shalom.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for being so much to us.

Thank you for being more than we could ever be for ourselves.

And you provide a way for us to have rest and peace and unconditional acceptance.

And that way is you.

And you do far more for us than we could possibly ever understand or imagine.

And we just we just thank you for that.

Even today, as we think about the faith of a mustard seed, I pray that that would be enough to draw us even closer to you in Christ's name.

Amen.