The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS
Lesson Plan:
1. The Duty of Caring for Others (vs 1, 2)
2. The Duty of Forgiveness (vs 3, 4)
3. The Duty of Exercising Faith (vs 5, 6)
4. The Duty of Doing More than Our Duty (vs 7-10)
Lesson Setting:
Time: If the sayings that make up our lesson were spoken at the same time as those of the preceding
chapter, they were spoken in January, A.D. 30. However, in Matthew and Mark sayings substantially
the same are given in connection with other times – soon after the transfiguration and after the
triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Place: In Perea, beyond Jordan; but see above.
Inductive Study of the Lesson:
1. Read the lesson, Luke 17:1-10
2. Compare the parallel passages, Matthew 18:6, 21, 22; Mark 11:20-24
3. On stumbling-blocks see 1 Corinthians 11:19; 1 Peter 2:8
4. Faith – what it is: Hebrews 11:1; Psalm 115:9; Proverbs 3:5, 6; 18:10; Isaiah 41:10, 13;
Ephesians 6:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; 1 Peter 5:7
5. Faith – what it does: Isaiah 26:3; Deuteronomy 31:8; Joshua 1:9; Psalms 5:11; 18:30, 31;
32:10; 55:22; 125:1, 2; Proverbs 16:20; 30:5; Isaiah 43:1-5; Jeremiah 17:7, 8; Habakkuk 2:4
6. Faith – how to get it: 1 Corinthians 2:5; 2 Chronicles 20:20; Nehemiah 4:14; Psalms 27:14;
37:5; 91:1-16; Proverbs 16:3; Habakkuk 2:3; Luke 17:5; Romans 15:13; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Peter
1:5-9, 21
7. With verses 3 and 4 compare Leviticus 19:17; Proverbs 17:10; Matthew 6:12-15; 1
Thessalonians 5:14
8. On the mustard seed see Matthew 13:31, 32. With verse 8 compare Luke 12:35-37;
Revelations 3:20. With verse10 compare Matthew 25:21, 23, 30; Romans 3:12; Job 22:2, 3; 35:7,
8; Psalm 16:2
Introduction: Most commentators, conservative as well as radical, believe that in the four sayings that constitute our lesson we have four unrelated exhortations, “four sayings severed from their true historical connections, flung down in a heap, as it were, without a word to explain why, or when, they were uttered” (The Expositor). “It is possible to make the four sayings into two parts, as the revised version does with its paragraphs. But the connection between the first and second, and between the third and fourth, are too uncertain to be insisted upon” (Int. Crit. Com.). The first three are given by Matthew and Mark in what is probably their true setting; the fourth is peculiar to Luke’s Gospel.
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:1, 2 (also read Matt. 18:6)
1. The Duty of Caring for Others
What did Christ mean by “offenses” (v 1) (R.V. “occasions of stumbling”)? The Greek word, which is exactly transferred into English in our “scandal,” means the stick in a trap on which the bait is placed, and which springs up and shuts the trap at the touch of an animal. Thus, generally speaking, a snare, a stumbling-block. Our Lord made use of this word when reproving Peter for suggesting that the cross was unnecessary. He said, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” “Thou art an offense unto Me,” that is, thou art a stumbling-block in My way. The cross is itself referred to as a skandalon; it is written, “We preach Christ crucified; to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to them that are saved, the wisdom and the power of God.” In like manner Christ is spoken of as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And He said of Himself, “Blessed are they that are not offended in Me.” Ancient law made it a crime to place a stumbling-block in the way of the blind, making him wander out of the way.
Why must stumbling-blocks be expected (v 1)? – (a) Because human sinfulness is to be expected. The divine power to become good implies the Satanic power to become evil. God’s government grants man the power to will, or not to will; to will right, or to will wrong; to choose or to refuse the great good which Jehovah promises. (b) Because men will persist in imitating fallible man instead of the perfect copy, Jesus Christ.
Illustration: A large portion of the life of Titian was wasted in copying the works of Bellini, and another in imitating the masterpieces of Giorgione; but at length he gave up the imitative method and went out to study nature – the fields, the mountains, the sunsets, the floating clouds – and thus he made himself immortal.
Illustration: When Agesilaus was invited to hear a man who could mimick the nightingale with wondrous art, he replied, “Why should I, when I have heard the nightingale herself?” So the man who has Christ before him is without excuse if he persists in copying the questionable life and character of any of his fellow men.
Whom did Christ mean by “these little ones” (v 2) in whose way men cast stumbling-blocks? – This reference is not to children, or the young, though certainly the warning applies no less to their case; but primarily to publicans and weak believers. “‘One of these little ones ...’ is a characteristic reference of Jesus to those who are ‘babes in Christ,’ whose faith is young and weak” (Commentary on Luke, Coffman). Christ calls even the apostles “children” (Jn. 13:35). However, in Matthew (18:2-6) and Mark (9:36, 37) it appears that Jesus had just been holding a child, commending then to kind treatment. How do men cause Christ’s little ones to stumble? By any evil examples, in deed, word or look. If you sap the virtue, or sneer at the faith of one who is innocent and/or childlike; if you give him/her lessons in falsehood, impurity, or dishonesty; if you teach him/her by example to ridicule sacred things, and the net result of your teaching is that a soul is ruined; that person’s blood is upon your head. When one thinks of himself more highly than he should and is the source or center of a contagion which might bring a blight upon the graces and the prospects of other souls besides his own – surely this is reason enough to be filled with fear, watchfulness, and trembling in working out his own personal salvation.
What is the fate of those who sin against Christ’s little ones? – Christ said that it would be worse than to be tied to “a millstone” (v 2) and thrown into the sea. Luke uses a word meaning a small millstone, one that could be turned by women; but Matthew and Mark use a word meaning a great millstone that needed an animal to revolve it.
Illustration: In the Wirtz Gallery of Horrors at Brussels there is a picture called ‘Napoleon’s Welcome to Hell,’ in which the maimed and widowed and orphaned are represented as stretching forth their hands to welcome him into the region of endless pain. On the other hand, by caring tenderly for Christ’s little ones, we shall have them to welcome us joyfully to the everlasting habitations (Lk. 16:9).
What are some common stumbling-blocks of today? – In a sermon on this subject, Dr. Harrison enumerated keeping others out of the church by false little slurs on Christianity, presenting inconsistencies in our own lives that turn others from the truth, preaching self-centered sermons instead of the Gospel of Christ, doing weekday business on the Lord’s day, conducting business in any way that varies by a hair’s breadth from uprightness and justice, telling “white lies,” and getting others to tell them for us, such as when we ask someone to tell an unwelcome caller that we are “not at home.” He went on to discuss laying stumbling-blocks in our own way by our sins; offending others by an assumption of “over-much righteousness”; by our dishonesty in trade or failing to pay our debts; by speaking against the authority of Holy Scripture, against the supernatural actions of Jesus Christ, against the atonement; by simply living as if we did not believe in God.
Illustration: “Surely you would never openly say that you seek to do the devil’s work by teaching or preaching lies instead of truth, obscenity to the pure, or unbelief to believers. But what about the harm of personal vanity or thoughtfulness? Do you ever air your worldly wisdom or wit without thinking about what the effect might be on others? Do you ever damp enthusiasm with a sneer, or weaken the sense of duty or honor by displaying before others the contemptible swagger of affected disloyalty or boastful disobedience?” (Dr. James E. Priest).
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:3, 4 (also read Matt. 18:21, 22)
2. The Duty of Forgiveness
Whom did Christ mean by “thy brother” (v 3)? – There is nothing to indicate that Jesus limits this title to a fellow disciple. In the later apostolic period ‘brethren’ became the recognized name of Christians among themselves.
How are we to treat our brothers when they sin? – We are to rebuke them, not in any harsh and contemptuous way, but lovingly and as fellow sinners. At the same time we are to show no leniency toward the sin, but to try to make our brothers hate it as we do.
How are we to treat sinners if they repent? – We are to forgive” (v 3) them, freely, fully, and instantly, with the forgiveness that forgets the wrong entirely. Forgiveness is not the careless indifference to wrong by which we seek impunity for our own faults while lightly regarding the faults of others. It is not the complacent bounty of a superior who has a proud satisfaction in giving to others release from small debts. True forgiveness involves two things, a perfect knowledge of the offense and a perfect restoration of love.
What are we to do if we are wronged repeatedly? – We are to forgive repeatedly, even though the wrong is repeated “seven times a day” (v 4). When Peter (Matt. 18:21, 22), whose hasty tongue probably led him into many disputes, asked how often he should forgive a brother that wronged him, “Till seven times?” Christ answered, “until seventy times seven”; that is, indefinitely. Seven times is the Jewish number for completeness. Some of the rabbis had limited the duty of forgiveness to a thrice-repeated offense.
Our Forgiveness and Christ’s – Christ regulates His own conduct by the rule He here gives to us. He is as ready to forgive as He requires us to be, and, however frequently we may have trespassed against Him, He will, if we repent of our trespasses, forgive us. Let no one despair of God’s mercies to forgive. Our sins will never be greater than God’s mercies.
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:5, 6 (also read Mk. 11:20-24)
3. The Duty of Exercising Faith
Why did the apostles pray that Christ “Increase our faith” (v 5)? – The twelve had listened to these counsels with intense interest, but their moral grandeur almost discouraged them. They felt that nothing was harder than constant patience and loving humility; never returning evil for evil, but always ready to forgive, even when repeatedly injured without cause. To create such an abiding spirit of tender meekness it needed, as they feared, stronger faith.
The increase of faith: Faith is the foundation stone of salvation; the first step toward complete and total freedom from sin. We ought to be more careful of our faith than of anything else. Faith is the root-grace: all other virtues and graces spring from it. Faith is the silver thread upon which the pearls of the graces spring. Break that, and the pearls lie scattered on the ground. Take heed of your faith, because Christ thinks much of it. Obedient faith links me with divinity, clothing me with the robes of deity. Faith that obeys God engages on my side the omnipotence of Jehovah. If you do not want faith when you are with friends, you will require it when you deal with foes. True faith is the foot of the soul, marching along the road of commandments. Little faith sits murmuring in a corner, while great faith sings in the fire. Would you rather have cheerfulness than gloom? Then seek more faith. They said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’
What is faith? – Faith is a reliance on the veracity and faithfulness of God. It is a reliance on the truth of what God has declared simply because He has declared it. It is an influential belief; a persuasive belief; an efficacious conviction. As moral agents, we are nothing without it. “I believe, that I may know” (Augustine). “Faith is a necessity to man. Woe to him who believes nothing!” (Victory Hugo)
What did Christ say could be done with even a little faith? – He pointed to a nearby tree, a tree having the form and foliage of the mulberry, but resembling the fig tree. It is a deep-rooted tree, common in Palestine and Syria. Then, perhaps quoting an Oriental proverb, He told the disciples that if they had faith as much as the tiny “mustard seed,” (v 6), biding the tree be uprooted and “planted in the sea,” it would “obey” them. It was a stern and contemptuous rebuke. They needed to gird themselves to the task ahead, believing God would not fail them. The saying was evidently a favorite with our Lord, for in Matthew and Mark He uses it on two different occasions, in one applied to Mt. Hermon and the other to the Mount of Olives. How can faith be obtained and increased? “Are we to wait for it, with mere indolent wishes? Are we to regard our deficiency in it as only so much more for the mercy of God to forgive? Are we to idly envy the larger possession of it, like we might the favors of fortune? No. Let us apply our minds to seriously contemplate the grand objects of faith, reflecting seriously on the greatness of the evils resulting from its narrowness and weakness. Let us contemplate the eminent examples of faith; see what faith has done, especially in times of persecution.
Illustration: Beecher has a homely illustration of the persistence with which we should seek to win faith, and the flabby ways so many of us seek it. Suppose faith were shut up in a stuck bureau drawer. Many sit down before the drawer and say, “Do come out, Drawer; please come out!” Others try this key and that; push and pull, get help from others, and never give up until the drawer is opened and its contents become accessible.
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:7-10
4. The Duty of Doing More than Our Duty
By what parable did Christ illustrate the necessity of something beyond mere duty-doing? Generally speaking, this parable has not received from Christians the measure of attention it is entitled. Our Lord imagines a servant (a slave) coming in from a day’s work ploughing or tending cattle, “the two forms of farm work that divided the labors of country people in Palestine” (New Century Bible). When the man came home, his master did not rush up to him and invite him to his own table as if he had performed some heroic task. He merely said, “Get me my dinner, and then take your own.” Have you ever noticed that far too often a few disciples (especially among church leaders) seem to act as though God should thank them for condescending to serve Him? We must all guard against the besetting sin of Pharisaism, or thinking that if we do anything for God, He is bound to do something for us in return.
Rather, Christ bids us, after we have obeyed Him in all respects, say “We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (v 19). Unhappy is the person whom the Lord calls an unprofitable servant; blessed is he who calls himself so. When Christ does unexpectedly come, He has promised that finding us to be faithful servants He will gird Himself (“a mark of servitude” Trench), make us sit down to meat and will serve. But this is because of His precious grace, not because we have any claim upon Him for it. As servants we are always debtors of service, our Master is never a debtor of reward. In this parable Christ’s purpose is not to teach in what spirit God deals with His servants, but to teach rather in what spirit we should serve God. His relation to us is not one of contract, but of ownership. Christians are what Paul so gladly calls himself; the “bondslaves of Jesus Christ.”
What is the essence of this parable? – Many of us first inquire: What do I want; what will suit and serve me; what is my interest; what is expedient. But the right question is something quite different. We should inquire, “What is my duty? What is the divine requirement of one in my circumstances?” “From the cradle to the grave I walk beneath an all-encompassing, overarching firmament of duty” (Maclaren). “Christianity annihilates merit, not by reducing obligation to nothing, but by raising it to infinitude” (James Martineau). “No forger would have been at all likely to invent a parable so alien to the habitual tone of our Lord; and of all men St. Luke was the very last to put such a parable into the mouth of Christ, unless he was quite sure that it was His” (The Expositor).
In-door and out-of-door service: This would make a great sermon or lesson title, pointing out how Christians, like the slave in this parable, are called upon to serve Christ outdoors, in the world, through outreaching, adventurous and enterprising ways; and also in the home, quietly, among our family, going about doing various household tasks. A spiritual life of full service to our Master will have both of these elements.
How can we be profitable servants of God? – (a) By waiting patiently for our reward. To endure, to wait upon a deferred hope, to stand still until the salvation comes; this is a business that calls for a sublime faith, for grit and steadiness and composure and a brave spirit. It was this splendid quality that made England’s William of Orange and America’s George Washington historic names. (b) By forgetting that we are to have a reward at all. We do nothing well, till we learn our worth; nothing best, till we forget it. (c) By remembering that ours is a life service, a service for eternity. Other servants may have some respite. The very slave is almost sure of his sleep, and may be free in his dreams; the soldier is ‘mustered out’ after the war; the man of business retires after he has made his competency; the professor may become ‘emeritus,’ and live on his annuity; but the Christian is to be a Christian, and to hold himself at the disposal of his Lord, while he lives. (d) By keeping ever in mind our shortcomings, humbly recognizing how far we are from perfect service. A great painter once sadly said, “My powers are failing. How do I know that? What convinces me that this is true? Because I am now satisfied with my productions; I never was before.” (e) By loving our service for Christ. “It is only when we so love it that we count it our highest honor and pleasure to do as much as we can for Him, and ask for no reward for past service save that we may serve Him still; so love it that we can dispense with thanks, even with His thanks, and serve Him from good will and not for reward; it is only then that we can account ourselves ‘dutiful servants'" (The Expositor). (f) By yielding a service that is wholly free and unforced. “The hardest demands of the kingdom are to be met in a spirit of patience and humility, a thing possible only for men who as remote as possible from a slavish spirit: heroic, generous, working in the spirit of free self-devotion. Such men are not unprofitable servants in God’s sight; rather He accounts them ‘good and faithful,’ Matthew 25:21” (Expositors Greek Testament).
