Luke 17:6-10
Luke 17:6 (KJB)
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto
this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the
sea; and it should obey you.
When fear builds, faith recedes, and vice versa. Remember the mustard seed is
about 1mm large and the mustard plant which grows from it, grows to height of
600 times the size of the seed. So the Lord is telling them that even faith, if
it is the size of a mustard seed and if that faith is upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, then you will be able to move mountains with it. Here the Lord Jesus
Christ uses the sycamine tree which was the black mulberry tree which was common
in Palestine and reached a height of 30 feet (9 meters) and was known for its
deep roots. Jesus states that enough faith would be able to just say to the
sycamine tree be uprooted with your deep roots and be planted in the sea and it
would obey you. That is faith, when an inanimate object like a tree will respond
to words of faith.
In fact, nothing shall be impossible for the Christian
if they be in the will of God. Unfortunately, too much
faith is diluted by fear and that removes the effectiveness of faith. When Peter
had walked upon the water and had his eyes on Jesus, he had the faith that he
would be fine but as soon as he started looking at the situation of the storm
around him, his faith failed because fear took over. Fear and faith cannot
occupy the same space at the same time.
Luke 17:7 (KJB)
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him
by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
Jesus then finished this set of teachings with an illustration that related the
nature of faith to actions. He asks a question which would elicit an obvious
answer of “no” or “of course not” which sets the stage for the message of the
teaching. Jesus starts by asking the people if they had a servant who was
engaged in the duties of the estate and then when he comes in from the field,
you tell him to sit down at the table and to eat supper. In other words, who
would say to their servant, sit down and I will wait on you?
Luke 17:8 (KJB)
And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird
thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt
eat and drink?
Instead the one who owned the slave or the servant would not have them sit down
and eat dinner the minute they come in from the field. They would have the
servant get ready and prepare the evening meal for the owner of the house. Once
he has eaten and drunken, then afterward the servant would have the opportunity
to sit down and eat. As the master, the servants would fix his dinner before
they would fix their own. This may seem a little harsh to us but back in those
days, it was the normal slave/master relationship.
Luke 17:9 (KJB)
Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I
trow not.
The servant is subject to his master and if he does what is required of him,
does he get a thank you for doing those things which he was commanded to do?
Jesus answers His own question, “I trow or think not.” The slave deserved and
received no special treatment for doing those assigned tasks. He was expected to
prepare the master’s evening meal, even after a long, hard day at work.
Luke 17:10 (KJB)
So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded
you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to
do.
Then Jesus places the disciples in the shoes of the servant. When we live out
our Christian life, we are doing our duty and we should not expect a special
commendation from God for doing it. There are many who think they are going to
receive special rewards in Heaven for living the Christian life but this verse
teaches us that as Christians, we have nothing to boast about because we have
received salvation, we did not initiate it. This verse also applies directly to
the Pharisees who believed their good works would gain them a divine
commendation. They believed that God rewarded the righteous materially.
Jesus repudiated the view of the Pharisees and also wanted to teach the
disciples correctly that good works was our duty and there is no way that anyone
can place God in their debt. We basically are unprofitable servants because one
minute we are doing the will of God and the next we are sinning because of the
sin nature still in us. We do things out of the will of God and for wrong
motives. It is these things which cause us to be unprofitable. Yet, despite us,
God still works out His magnificent salvation plan on earth until the last one
is saved.