I should also share with you before we turn to the Word of God how our brother Scotty, as he was waiting upon the Lord — and you know that the house couldn't be sold, and it seemed to be almost an impossible situation — and the Lord was testing his faithfulness. Would he be prepared to leave, even if the house is not sold? And he set his heart in faithfulness to the Lord and said, "Even if this house is not sold, that shall not stop me to go forth and serve You." And a few days before he left, in fact, I think it was the day before he left, as he also shared with our brother Ronald, he wrote down on a piece of paper the words of Habakkuk 2 and verse 3. And these are the words he wrote down: "If it seems slow" — and he in fact wrote it down from the words, "if it tarry" — slow, that is, if it seems to be delayed, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. And in Habakkuk 2, verse 3, it refers to the promise of God, and the vision of that promise that Habakkuk saw. And these words spoke very much to our brother Scotty. "If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come." And he wrote this down on a piece of paper. And that was the same day, later in the day, where the house was sold. It had to wait until the day before he left, 10 p.m. at night, and the house was sold. "If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come." God's ways are really very remarkable. And so many times one seems to have to wait. He tests us to prove our faithfulness. And then it all works out perfectly. And so they went forth rejoicing. Although they were prepared to leave the house and abandon it, not receive one cent for it, yet the Lord worked all things out.
And so we turn again today to His wonderful word. His word that never fails. And today we study in the Lord's teaching in Luke chapter 17. In Luke chapter 17, from verses 5 to 10. Luke 17, verses 5 to 10. Very important passage. We are studying the parable in Luke, and the parable actually goes from verse 7 to 10. But we cannot omit the previous two verses. Because the parable, in fact, is an explanation of those two verses. Very important passage. This parable from verse 7 to 10 is sometimes called the parable of the unprofitable servant. But it's always difficult to give a very suitable name to a parable.
Verses 5 to 10 of Luke chapter 17. And this is what we read here. The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." And the Lord said — I would like you especially to notice the word "Lord." We spoke about it last time. That the central theme of the Lord's teaching is the kingship of God. He is Lord, as we saw, not just Savior. He is here constantly addressed as Lord. Of course He is our Savior. There is no question that He is the Savior. But He is only Savior of those who acknowledge Him as Lord.
And the Lord said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, 'Be rooted up and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." Verse 7: "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 sit down at table'? Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me and gird yourself and serve me till 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 is commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"
Now what is the Lord Jesus teaching us here? Let us return to verse 5. And we find that He is speaking to the apostles. For the most part, He has been speaking to His disciples. And now He is speaking specifically to the apostles, the twelve. And it is these apostles — you might say, if you think of apostles as some kind of an elite group, a special group, a higher group than the disciples — it is the apostles that we always sort of think as something very exceptional, unusual. They are speaking for us with this prayer: "Increase our faith." And in answer to this request and this prayer, the Lord declares the importance of having faith and what faith can do. Well surely the apostles were quite aware of this already. That's why they asked for the increase of faith. If faith were unimportant, there would be no point to ask for an increase of it. But they are already aware of the importance of the increase of faith. But the Lord drives the point further home. And then having said how important faith is, He goes on to tell this parable. Well, what's the connection of the parable? What in fact is the Lord's answer to that request, to increase faith? That is exactly what we need to study.
So let us look at those words. First of all, "Increase our faith." Now of course if you haven't got any faith, there is nothing to increase. If you had no money in the bank, you cannot ask for an increase of the money in the bank by interest or by what other means. You cannot increase a zero. There you would have to add something to it. Now if they had no faith, they do not ask for an increase of faith. They would say, "Give us faith. We haven't got faith." You only ask for an increase of faith when of course you have some faith to increase. You cannot grow if there is nothing to grow. There must first be a plant that can grow. So one speaks of growth only when there is life in the first place. Where there is no life, there cannot be growth. So it is already understood that the apostles do have faith. And they are asking for an increase of that faith. Now that is important to understand. It is not that the apostles are confessing that they do not have any faith. But they are confessing that their faith is not great enough. It is not big enough.
What then is the Lord's answer? "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed..." You mean to say they haven't got faith even as a grain of mustard seed? We have just — they have already concluded that they do have some faith. And the Lord Jesus said, "If you had faith..." A hypothetical statement. A hypothetical "if," assuming that is that they don't have that kind of faith. "You don't have faith as a grain of mustard seed." Now that is very puzzling. Can it be that a person can be an apostle who hasn't got faith so much as a grain of mustard seed?
Now on this point I have expounded some time ago, where perhaps most of you were not here at that time, some two, three years ago. And so I will not spend too much time on it, but only explain briefly what the Lord is saying. Can it be that the apostles do not so much as have faith as a grain of mustard seed? Now you know that a grain of mustard seed is regarded as the smallest plant, the smallest seed known to the farmer in Palestine. It is not the smallest seed in the world, but it is the smallest seed known to the Palestinian farmer. And some of you may know that the poppy seed is still smaller than the mustard seed. But that of course is not the point, because they didn't grow poppies in Palestine. The point here is that it is the smallest seed known to the Palestinian farmer. And if you have seen a mustard seed, you will have to agree that it is an exceedingly small seed. It is pretty hard as it is to see. It is a very small seed.
But can it be that the disciples have not got even faith as a grain of mustard seed? Not even as small as that? Now if you think in those terms, of course you have really missed the point of the Lord's teaching. A mustard seed may be very small, but it is very complete. The point is not its size, but its completeness. You see. And so if you are thinking in terms of size — of course faith is not judged in terms of quantity or size. It is judged in terms of its quality. There is no point having very large size of something that is as dead as a stone. Now what would have been the use to say, "You have got faith as big as the Rock of Gibraltar"? Well, a rock is as dead as anything. That will never increase. You cannot increase the Rock of Gibraltar. Because what is dead does not increase. They spoke about increase. And the Lord Jesus acknowledges that only that can increase which has life in it. And a seed has life.
But can it be that they haven't got life? Oh no, that is not the point. What He is saying is that they have faith. He acknowledges they have faith. But their faith is incomplete. Now a seed may be very small, but it is perfect. Have you ever noticed that a seed is perfect? If it were not perfect, it wouldn't grow. And so you can see how perfectly the Lord is answering their question. Your faith is lacking in completeness. It is lacking perfection. You want to increase your faith? The only way to do that is first of all to have a faith which though small is perfect. Your faith may be small, but if it is imperfect, you cannot increase. You have asked Me to increase your faith. Well, it will increase if that faith is complete, perfect.
Now the mustard seed is very small. You can look at it through a magnifying glass. You will notice that it is perfect. It is small, but it lacks nothing. Now if your faith is to increase, it must be a perfect faith. That which is imperfect cannot increase. Take for example a child. A child is going to increase in stature. The very same Greek word is used by the Lord Jesus in another place to increase the stature. "Will you by being anxious increase your stature by one cubit?" Or by any size at all? Worry doesn't increase; doesn't result in an increase of stature. It doesn't increase anything. So, if you are going to increase that stature like a little child, that child has to be perfect in the first place. If, for example, there was some malfunction in its system, if there was some serious disease in it, or if some part of its constitution were missing, it will not grow. You know that there are some children who lack a growth hormone. They are born into the world, and they are deficient in some gland, in some hormone. They cannot grow. And today they are trying to provide these children with certain drugs that will supply the lack of that hormone of growth which they need. And once they have that hormone, they can grow again. So, only that which is complete, lacking nothing, will be able to grow. In fact, this is the principle of life.
And so He says, "If your faith were like a grain of mustard seed, as complete as that" — maybe that small in size, but not small in quality, perfect in its quality — "you would be able to say to this sycamine tree" — more correctly, the mulberry tree, and that doesn't matter too much, but in fact, if you research into it, you'll find that what is talked about is a mulberry tree. And a sycamine is perhaps the name for the white mulberry tree. There is a black mulberry tree and there is a white mulberry tree. But the point here is that it is a mulberry tree that is in question. And I think we, as Chinese, know what a mulberry tree is. In Chinese we call it a "shangshu." And I used to pluck the leaves of the mulberry tree because I used to grow silkworms. And you know that silkworms eat the leaves of the mulberry tree. And it's so nice to keep silkworms and to watch them go into a cocoon and come out as a moth or butterfly. So we know what is a mulberry tree. A mulberry tree tends to be very big and grows to a great size, very strong, powerful roots.
"And you will say to this great tree, 'Be removed from here and be planted in the sea.'" Not thrown into the sea. Notice very carefully the words: "Be planted in the sea." Since when is a tree to be planted in the sea? And be planted on dry ground — have you ever heard of planting a tree in the sea? Now of course the Lord is saying something that is very remarkable. A tree is going to, by your word of command, if you have faith, will move from the dry land and be planted — not fall into the sea. I mean, we in Canada often see, in the river, say in the St. Lawrence, you see whole trees floating down sometimes, and this is all just lying sideways, and sometimes the leaves are still green. It's just being swept away by the water. But that's not planting it. It's just being carried away by the water. It's not planted. Planted — the word used here is the word which implies growth.
You asked about increasing your faith. Well, I'm telling you about it. About life. About growth. So, this is something we need to ask. But then we ask the next question: What is the point? What is the point of planting a tree in the sea? Now I should also explain to you that the word "sea" in the Gospels particularly refers to a lake. For example, you constantly read of the Sea of Galilee. It's the most frequent use. So He's not talking about the ocean or things like this. At that point it doesn't matter too much, but just for the sake of accuracy we need to remember that the sea here refers to the lake. So not necessarily salt water is in question.
But we ask the question then: What is the point? What conceivable purpose is there in planting a tree in the sea? Is this just going to be a demonstration of magic powers? Or is this just going to be a demonstration of power for the sake of power? Now if anyone had that kind of power, the Lord Jesus certainly had. But have you ever read anywhere in His miracles that He planted a tree in the sea, or that He pushed a mountain into the sea? I mean, what conceivable purpose, what use would it be to do that? It seemed to be an exercise in futility, an exercise of being utterly useless. I mean, can you conceive of any circumstance in which you have to say, "Okay, move this tree into the sea and grow, let the tree grow in the sea"? What point is this?
Ah, here always remember that when the Lord Jesus speaks, He is speaking spiritually. It is not to say that it is impossible for a servant of God to move a tree into the sea. If there should be any conceivable use, it might be one day you have to give a sign as a prophet of God, and that might be a sign. But normally speaking, such a thing need not be done. But there is much more wonderful meaning in it than that. What is the spiritual meaning of this? Oh yes, then we begin to understand what the Lord is saying. When you are familiar with the parabolic language of the Bible, then you begin to understand, because we are dealing here with parables. We begin to understand what the Lord is saying.
The tree in the Bible is a commonplace picture for people. People are often compared to trees. Now, take for example, Judges chapter 9, verses 7 to 15, or Psalm chapter 1, verse 3, the well-known psalm that the righteous is like a tree planted by living waters. Or Isaiah 56, verse 3, or Luke chapter 23 and verse 31. All these kinds of verses show you that people are constantly pictured in terms of trees. Or a forest, or something of this sort, where there is a great multitude of people in question. If there are lots of people, then the picture might be that of a forest. If there are a few people, or one person only, then he is spoken of simply as a tree, or trees. Now this is very important. So it's speaking about people.
And you remember that putting down the roots, in the parable of the sower, chapter 13 of Matthew, and so forth — putting down roots means to be able to get a grip of something, to go deep into something. And so this kind of picture language. And it says here, for example, also in James, in the letter of James, James compares the man with two minds as a tree that is plucked up and without roots, plucked up, twice dead. So the picture of a person compared to a tree is very common in the Bible. That point we have to understand.
Now what happens here? Here we are talking about the transplantation of a tree from the ground in which it normally grows to a place where it does not normally live. That's very important again to understand. You see, what happens to you when you are saved, what happens to you when you become a Christian — if that is to say, I am talking about a genuine Christian — what happens in the case of a genuine Christian is the result: is a transplantation. You are transferred, as Paul says in Colossians chapter 1, transferred from darkness into His marvelous light, transferred into the kingdom of God. You see, transplantation, or transfer, is the picture of salvation in the Bible. If you have not been transferred, you have not been transplanted, you are not saved. But any person who has been saved by acknowledging the lordship as well as the Saviorhood of Christ is one who is transferred from darkness into His marvelous light.
Now this picture is just beautiful. It is just wonderful. And so what we also see here is this: just like the roots of a tree take hold of the mud and the soil, so also the natural man takes hold of this world. It clutches onto this world like the roots. It holds to this world. But when you become a Christian, you are uprooted and transplanted into a new environment which is not natural to you, which Paul says in Romans is contrary to nature. In Romans chapter 11, that we are transplanted into a new situation, like a wild olive tree into a cultivated olive tree. And this transfer is contrary to nature. Being saved is contrary to nature. You are transplanted out of the ground in which you are familiar — that is, the life in this world — into a new kind of life in the kingdom of God. And of course you find the life in the kingdom of God is unfamiliar to you. It's a spiritual world you now enter into — God's marvelous light. All your life you have lived in darkness. That's your familiar place. You know darkness, but you don't know what light is. You are transferred into His marvelous light.
In the Bible, water is often a picture of spiritual life, as you know. "Those who thirst, come to Me and drink," the Lord Jesus says. The picture of water. But dryness, barrenness, desert land is a picture of death. But where there is water, there is life. And the lake of Galilee — as we saw that this word here translated "sea" is the word that is used, the Sea of Galilee, most frequently in the New Testament — is a place which was teeming with life. All kinds of fish lived in there. It was a very fertile, very rich place. Unlike the Dead Sea, which is dead — no fish can grow in it because of the heavy mineral content of that sea. But the Sea of Galilee is a living place.
But here, the picture of water. But there is more to it than that. In 2nd Kings, chapter 8, and verse 8, we read of the sea in front of the temple. In fact, that is the laver, the place of cleansing. The sea at which — that laver, that big tub outside the front of the temple — was also called the sea. And that sea was a place of cleansing. That is where the priests washed themselves and washed the utensils that were used in the sacrifices. So the sea became the symbol of cleansing as well as of life.
Very remarkably also, in Revelation chapter 4, and verse 6, we read that in front of the throne of God there is a sea which looks like crystal. So pure, transparent is it, emphasizing the purity of that sea of cleansing in front of the throne of God. In Revelation 4:6, he doesn't say he saw a crystal sea, but a sea that looks like crystal, because he doesn't know how else to describe it in its purity, in its perfection.
So what we then notice is this: what is happening is, the Lord Jesus says, if you had faith, you would be able to say, and it would happen. Now notice how it's accomplished. It's accomplished by a word. It's not that you, because you have faith, will suddenly become as strong as Samson, and you will grab hold of this tree and you will pull it out by the roots, and then of course you will go and dump it in the sea and say, "Stand here," and it stands there. No, no. You don't even move. It's your word that does it. You will say to this tree — wow, that is perfect. It is the word that is with power. It's wonderful.
You know, there are two kinds of preachers. There's a kind of preacher that talks, and so nothing ever happens. There's another kind of preacher that speaks, and things begin to happen. What is the difference? Because one preacher is better than the other preacher because he has done more lay preacher training than the others, that he has gone to a Bible school and spent more time in the homiletics class? Oh no, nothing to do with that. There are eloquent preachers, fine preachers, to whom nothing ever happens. And there comes this humble man who cannot preach very well, who stumbles over his words, and when he speaks, all kinds of things begin to happen. As I shared with you sometime, when Wesley preached, he preached sometimes with such lack of expression as that he would take up his message and just read it. And yet, when he spoke forth his message, just reading it from a piece of paper, that people fell on their knees and wept before God. That is power. The power of the word.
Now you see, that is the important thing. He says, "If you had faith like this grain of mustard seed" — complete, round, perfect like the seed, with the life of God in it, and no part of it is missing — "you would say, and it would obey you." Why? Because you become a magician? Oh no, no. Because God's power is going to work through you. It is God's power that accomplishes His purpose. And when you are living in this fellowship with Him, in this perfect relationship with Him that is called faith, then when you speak His word, things begin to happen. People begin to be changed. People are born again. People are transferred from darkness into His marvelous light, from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of His beloved Son. That's wonderful.
Now I say to people, if you are going to preach at all, what's the use of preaching without power? And you will not collect power by going to a Bible school. You will not get power by sitting in a seminary. Not my words. I have been through all of that, and I didn't come out of there with power because I have been to a seminary. I have been — well, I haven't been to a seminary. I went to the Faculty of Divinity in the university. But those are the same sort of things. You don't get power from this kind of situation. Where do you get power? From God. How do you get power from God? By having faith like a grain of mustard seed.
Now then, the question of course is: Oh, how we desire this power, that when we speak forth the word of God, that word of God will accomplish its purpose. It will be obeyed. People will be transferred into the new life, out of the kingdoms of darkness and into the kingdom of His dear Son.
Now that is exactly the question we need to ask. You see, the kingdom of God itself, in Luke chapter 13 and verse 19, is compared to a grain of mustard seed. Now that's very important to remember. So two things are compared to a grain of mustard seed in the Gospel of Luke. The one is the kingdom of God, compared to a grain of mustard seed in Luke chapter 13, verse 19, and faith. So there shows that both are compared to the mustard seed. There is a parallel between the kingdom of God and faith.
Now you see, what is the kingdom of God? Well, last week I already mentioned about it. The kingdom of God is the kingship of God, His sovereignty in our lives, His lordship in our lives, that He rules in our lives. That is the kingship of God. And what is faith? Faith is the complete and total response to His lordship, to His kingship, to His sovereignty. That is faith. Now no wonder there are two aspects of the same thing. Kingship of God is meaningless unless in our lives — unless we respond to it in total commitment. Now only, notice this word "total." Unless your commitment is total — of course it's not perfect. If it's not perfect, that means something is missing. If something is missing, it cannot increase, as we saw. It's lacking in power. Now do you understand what it means?
No wonder then, that same seed, the mustard seed, can represent both the lordship of Christ and our total commitment to Him. Because these are two parts of the same thing. They are in fact so involved in each other that you cannot separate them. The lordship of Christ — what does it mean? What does it mean in practical terms? It means my total commitment to Him as Lord. That's what it means. It's really the same thing said in a different way. Now this is so important to grasp. You see, we must ever more deeply understand what it means to be totally committed, or to change the term, what it means that Jesus is totally Lord in our lives. The two things say exactly the same thing. There's no difference in meaning. And that is why both can be pictured in terms of this perfect mustard seed.
Now ask yourself this: Can you speak the word of God with power? Can I speak the word of God with power? The answer depends on only one thing. Am I totally submitted to Jesus as Lord? Is He absolutely Lord in my life, in every sense? Can you honestly say that? That there is nothing in your life that is not under His lordship? That is what total commitment, that is what the lordship of Christ means. Is there anything in your life over which He is not Lord? Can you honestly say it? If the Lord Jesus commanded you this day to go forth to a certain place, would you go immediately, without question, without argument, without hesitation? Would you do everything that He commands you? That is the question. Are you totally submitted to Him? If not, then you will not be able to serve Him with power. You will not be able to experience His power in your life.
Now notice who these words are being addressed to. It is addressed to the apostles. The apostles have left everything to follow Jesus. Now surely they are totally committed. Or no? Never, and I say this — I have said this before, and I will say this again — never suppose that every preacher is a totally committed man. Very far from it. Never assume that every preacher is a totally committed man. Most certainly not. Never assume that every Christian worker is totally committed. He is not necessarily so. Never assume that every missionary is totally committed. He is not necessarily so. People have become pastors and missionaries and Christian workers for reasons quite other than total commitment. We thank God for those who are totally committed. But there are pastors who have become pastors for quite other reasons, and some, unfortunately, have become pastors for no other reason than that they couldn't succeed in any other job. They couldn't get into university. They failed their exams. They couldn't get anywhere else. So where else to go? Well, Bible school, of course. I mean, the standard is lower there. You can get in there without too high academic qualifications. And therefore, of course, the logical outcome is to become a pastor, because what other job can you have? Now I don't want to say this in any way to disgrace any persons or any pastors, but you and I know that that's the truth, and we are here to speak of the truth. It has nothing to do with total commitment. Frankly, there was no other way to go. That's as simple as that. And I have talked to pastors who have told me this very truthfully. I said, "Why are you in the pastorate?" He said, "Well, when I graduated, I couldn't get into Hong Kong U, so I couldn't get into university. I couldn't get into Chinese U. So where else to go? Into the Bible school." That's disgraceful. Now if that is to say the only reason he became a pastor was because that was the only job open to him, and unfortunately there are quite a number of these. So do not imagine that full-time workers are necessarily such.
Now you say, "Surely the apostles didn't become apostles for that reason." Now if you read the accounts of the Gospels very carefully, you will notice that their motive was not always that commendable. What was the motive of some? You remember James and John: "When you become king, make sure to appoint us too, as foreign minister and" — or as finance minister, whatever — "one on your right hand, one on your left." And what did they become apostles for? Well, Jesus is going to be king. I mean, He is the Messiah. The Messiah among the Jews means the king. But that's wonderful. He is the Anointed One. Who is anointed? The king is anointed. And when He becomes king, I, at least, foreign minister — maybe finance minister. If He looks on me with favor, I might even be prime minister. You never know. Is that the reason for becoming an apostle? Unfortunately, yes. You notice then that sometimes we tend to glorify them too much. Until the Gospels are so ruthlessly honest. They tell us Peter, James, and John, they came there and asked for these high places in government. And what did Jesus say to them? Well, they were willing to pay a price for that. They were willing to accept some suffering from that. But so long as the end result is good, who worries? The motive was not that commendable. In other words, they went in not with the intention of serving Jesus simply as such, but what can I get out of this? What glory, what advantages, material advantages, can I get out of this? So you see, they turn out to be — it is not so singular and unusual that people become pastors and Christian workers for motives that are less than honorable, less than worthy.
# The Parable of the Unprofitable Servant (Part 2) — Luke 17:5-10
...got the faith of the mustard seed, the kingdom faith, the faith of the kingdom of God. They do have faith. I mean, James and John certainly had faith in Jesus. If they didn't have faith in Jesus — when He was not yet king, by the way, and they already had faith that He would become king, even though He was not king at that time — well, that requires faith. You've got to have faith in a person to trust him that one day he will succeed. Even though the government, the Sadducees, the people in power rejected Jesus — He was at this time simply a rabbi, a teacher, walking around in Palestine — but they had faith that He would become king. They had faith that He was the Messiah. They certainly had faith. But they had such a faith as hoping to get something out of it.
Now, James and John, they changed. And you know that John became the most outstanding and most spiritual-minded apostle later on, because he got transplanted, you see. At that stage, he wasn't transplanted yet. At that stage, he still hadn't got his faith perfect as a mustard seed. But how great was the change? John realized afterwards he had to be utterly born anew. His whole thinking had to be transformed. He had to cease thinking in these ways. And so he wrote the Gospel of John, the most spiritual Gospel there is. So great was the transformation in his life. But there was one person who didn't get transformed. And that was Judas, you remember. Again, of course, he fell away, because in the first place, he joined the apostles, he joined Jesus, for the wrong reasons. Very dangerous, to serve God for the wrong reasons.
So we come to this section now, and we ask this question. Is your faith complete? Now you say, what then has the parable got to do with it? Well, those three verses, the four verses that follow then, are going to tell us about this. The Lord Jesus goes on to illustrate His point. "Will any one of you..." — and there is a Greek particle connecting verse 7 with verse 6, which is not translated, a particle which can be translated as "but," or "and," or "however." "However, will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down at table'?" Would you say that? And so the Lord Jesus goes on to tell this parable.
The first thing to notice: the word "servant." If you had a servant — if you had a servant who has been working all day in the field, and he comes in, would you then serve him? Or would he still have to serve you? Which is the answer? The answer, of course, is the servant's job is to serve. Of course, the master is not going to serve the servant. The word translated "servant" is the Greek word for slave. And that's very important. It's a slave that is in question. And that is very important for us to understand. Because a slave has been bought with a price. He has been bought. He belongs to his master. We too, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, chapter 3 and 6, for example, that we have been bought with a price. We are not our own. We belong to Him. We are slaves of Jesus because we have been bought by Him. That's another thing to understand. Have you been bought by Him? Do you belong to Jesus? If you belong to Him, then it follows that you are to serve Him. Total commitment or service is the logical, as Paul says, the logical outcome of this matter. Your reasonable service. That is your logical service that you should give to Him because you have been bought by Him. If you are bought by Him, you belong to Him. If you belong to Him, you are His servant, His slave. And what does a slave do? He serves.
I cannot understand the kind of Christianity that is taught today in which it seems that Jesus is here to serve us rather than we are to serve Him. As we saw last Friday, every true Christian is a servant of God. Why? Because every true Christian has been bought by Him. We belong to Him. And in the Bible, there is no higher honor, no more glorious title than to be called a servant or a slave of God. Paul glories in this title. You notice he opens every letter that he writes with the title "Paul, Slave of Jesus Christ." He doesn't want any other title. For him, that is the finest title. Now, to understand this parable, this is the first point you must grasp. We are talking about a slave who belongs to his master.
And what is then the job of the slave? The job of the slave is to work, is to serve. And to serve constantly — not sometimes and occasionally, but all the time, day by day, moment by moment. So we have this word, "a servant plowing or keeping sheep." Now, not all servants have the same job. Some plow and some keep sheep. Keeping sheep is what a pastor does. The word "pastor" means a shepherd. So my job is to look after the sheep. Other people's jobs may be to be looking after the fields and bringing forth much fruit.
Another thing to observe here is that in the original we have a present tense, a present participle. And the point of the present participle means that this plowing is a constant process. Not that he just plowed for five minutes, or he went into the field and plowed, went into the sheep and looked after the sheep for half an hour. He has constantly been plowing. Service is not service unless it's constant. Constantly serving. And when he has been working all day — and the shepherds and the farmers work from very early in the morning, they work all day, and at the evening they come home — and surely it's time to rest now, isn't it? And so he comes home and he's going to sit down and have his meal. Oh no, no, no. His work is not finished yet when he comes home. Oh, he says, this is a hard life to be a slave, to be a servant. He works all day in the field and he comes home and now he has to serve his master. I mean, the master is not going to serve his slave, is he? He's going to say, "Oh, here comes the servant. Okay, I've cooked your supper for you now, so come and sit down and have the supper." Now, what master would say that? No earthly master would say that. Of course, the servant's job is still to serve, whether it's on the field or when he comes back after a day's work.
What's the spiritual meaning of this? That's very interesting. I find that here we see that the Lord Jesus is saying, you ask Me what is total commitment? Now, that's total commitment. You are serving all the time. At no stage do you stop serving. Now, here's the case. I find there is an interesting parallel to the kind of life that we live, the kind of life you live. You may be working all day, say, in your college or in the hospital or in your office. That's like plowing and keeping the sheep. It's working outside all day. And when you come home at night, you say, "Well, the night is for me. I've been working all day, so I'm going to sit back and enjoy myself now." No, no, no. When you come home, you work now again.
Hey, you say, "I've been working." Yes? But notice the distinction. Look at this picture that the Lord paints here. The servant plowing in the field or looking after sheep — is he doing it for the Lord? Oh, yes, he does it for the Lord too. But it is not directly for the Lord. He is not doing something directly to the Lord. He is doing something for the Lord. But when he comes back, he is serving the Lord directly. He is serving Him His supper. That's a very interesting picture. One is serving away from the Lord in a certain sense, but also for the Lord. And the other is serving directly to the Lord or in relation to the Lord — cooking His meal, serving it to Him.
And this makes me think of the two kinds of work that we are engaged in. Both are for the Lord, and yet both are for the Lord in a different way. Now, if you are, say, working in an office, are you working in the office for the Lord or not for the Lord? Now, if you are a Christian, of course, whatever you do, you do for the Lord. Of course, even though you may be typing, you say, "What's that got to do with the Lord?" Sure, you do it for the Lord because you belong first and foremost to the Lord. So, whatever you do, the Bible says, do it for His glory. You do it, after all, for Him, for His glory. Now, that's very important. But it is not directly serving Him. It is doing it for Him.
And when you come home, you say, "Well, that's it. That's enough for today. I've worked eight hours today." In fact, in the Palestinian farm, I've worked more than eight hours. We today feel ourselves to be overworked when we have done eight hours in the office, a large part of the time sipping coffee. But in those days, of course, there was no sipping coffee in the field. You work all day long under the hot sun. And when you come home, say, "That's it, now I've finished for today." No. The true servant of God says, "Now I'm going to have a time of fellowship with the Lord, or I'm going to do something directly for the Lord." And I see many of you are doing this. Some of you work in the office all day, and then you come home, and what are you? You are on the newsletter team. You spend the rest of the night typing out the newsletter or something like this. You see, and you're working, doing something now directly for the Lord. Both are for the Lord. I would like you never to think of so-called secular work as not being for the Lord. Whatever work you are doing, whether it's as a lawyer or a dentist or a doctor or engineer, whatever it is, if you are a true Christian, you do your work for the Lord, for His glory. But there is — you also know though, that though it is for the Lord, it is in an indirect sense. But when you are doing something directly for the Lord, then you are like the servant serving Him at the table.
Now having noticed this, we notice that when He has done everything — notice these words in verse 10, the last verse — "So also, when you have done all that is commanded you." Now please notice the word "all." We have just said right at the beginning that the mustard seed is complete and perfect. I have used the word "total." The word "all" simply means total. That's where the word "total commitment" comes from. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength." Every time, another word — because the word, instead of just saying "all your heart, mind, soul and strength," the Bible doesn't say that, but uses the word "all" every time to stress the totality, the completeness of that commitment. And notice this: "When you have done all that is commanded you." Ah, you say, "When I have done all that is commanded me, then I am really a saint. I am perfect." No, you are nothing very special yet. It says then you say, "We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty."
The word that is translated "unworthy" means basically "unprofitable." Now what does it mean to say — is it just a mark of humility that the Lord is saying, "Well, the way to have perfect faith is to keep saying, 'I am very unworthy, I am very useless, I am unprofitable,'" and that is the way to be a very good servant of God? No, no. That is not the point. He is not being humble. In the Christian life, the only way to be humble is simply to accept the facts. You cannot be more humble than you should be. You see, what it means is this. "We have done only" — the words translated "what is our duty" is from the Greek word which means "to pay back what you owe." It is to owe a debt. Now you understand. There is nothing that we have that we haven't received from the Lord. As Paul says, "What have you got that you didn't receive?" Whatever we are, we are by the grace of God. Whatever we have, we have by the grace of God. I have nothing that God hasn't given to me. Whatever I have comes from God. Therefore, everything I have, I owe to Him.
Now say you lend somebody five dollars. And then he gives you back five dollars. Well, what was your profit? Your profit is zero. You simply got back what was owed to you. Now, when I give back to God whatever I have got, what does He profit from me? Zero. Nothing. All He got was what He gave me in the first place. He gave me my life, He gave me my time, He gave me my strength, He gave me everything. Whatever I give back to Him, I got from Him in the first place. What was His profit? Zero. He got nothing but what He gave in the first place.
So when I'm saying I am an unprofitable servant, that means not that I am useless to God. It doesn't mean you are useless. You are very valuable to God. But it is not that God got any profit out of you that He couldn't get anyway. You have not added anything to God that He didn't have before. I mean, does God get richer because you gave Him five dollars? Does He get wiser because you gave Him one hour or five hours of your time? We always have the feeling we did give God something. He somehow got a bit richer because He got me. Now if you keep thinking like this, you have really not understood the spiritual life. You see, He doesn't get any richer because I gave one hundred dollars in the offering. Or if I gave one thousand dollars in the offering, God got one thousand dollars richer. God's bank account got bigger. The church bank account got bigger. But God didn't get any richer. In any case, does God need my one thousand dollars or whatever it is I can offer Him? The point is not that we are unprofitable to the church or to other people. We are talking about unprofitable to Him. As the Scripture says, what is it that the hands of man can contribute to God? To Him personally.
Now again, this in no way means that you are worthless to God. You are most precious to God. You are very valuable to God. It is not because you have given something to God. Now, for example, my little girl is very precious to me. Is it because I got a lot of money from her? I got nothing. I keep losing money from her. She is my biggest expense in the household. I am sometimes tempted to think if I didn't have a little daughter, how much money I would save. Is it because she gives me a lot of time? No, no. In fact, she takes a lot of my time. So, she is very precious to me because of what? Well, I don't get any richer. I don't get more time. What do I get? Come to think of it, I am not sure that I got anything. I have got her, but she is a financial liability to me. I have got her, but she consumes a lot of my time. I have got her, and so what? You see, in terms of profit, I make no profit out of it at all. And when you think of it like this, you begin to realize this is the situation with God. What does God get out of us?
Well, you say, "Well, we give Him joy." Sure we give Him joy. We give Him a lot of heartaches too. And my little girl gives me some joy, and she gives me an awful lot of pain, too, especially when she is naughty. I am sure I get a lot more pain than joy out of her at this present stage. Maybe one day it will change. Hopefully one day it will change. But anyone who has ever had a daughter or a son will know that in most cases it takes so much of your money, so much of your time, and gives you so many problems, and argues with you over this and that, and wants this, and you say no, and "Why can't I have a sweet? What's wrong with sweets?" And you start explaining for the hundredth time that it's bad for the teeth, and she says, "Well, I don't care if my teeth go bad." And I say, "Well, I do care because I've got to pay the dentist bill." Well, she doesn't care because she doesn't pay the dentist bill. She says — well, I'll never get anywhere with this argument and this logic. I mean, my logic is not logic to her. It makes no sense to her. So, here you have a headache on your hands.
So, this is the situation that we always think that God has me — oh, how fortunate. Look at me. How much joy I give to God. You think how much headache you give to God. That is really the problem. How many times you have grieved the Spirit of God. So, in this sense, we must simply come to recognize that we are unprofitable. That God really doesn't save us because He gets so much out of us. He saves us simply for our sake because He loves us that much. I love my daughter. I can't think of a logical reason except to say there's my daughter. I don't know what other logical reason I can give. Maybe you have a better reason for loving your daughter. I don't know. Maybe afterwards you can enlighten me as to your reasons. Maybe I have to learn something here. But certainly, even if we could get something from our daughter or our son, that's not the case with God. What is it that He has got — that He doesn't have, rather — that we can give to Him?
And so, here then is the whole point. What is the whole point of this parable? The whole point of this parable is this. That the Lord is teaching us — and we know that the central theme in His teaching is the kingdom of God — that it is our logical business as a servant, as a Christian, as a disciple, as an apostle (in this case, since He's speaking to the apostles), to be servants. To serve Him utterly and completely, without murmur and without complaint. Notice that if the servant came back and said, "Hey, I'm going on strike. I mean, I am being mistreated. Look at me, just look at the sweat on me. I've been working all day in the field and I come into the house and you tell me to gird my apron on and cook a meal for you. I mean, haven't you got any heart? I mean, haven't you got any feelings? I've been working all day. Have a heart. I mean, this is against the law. I mean, it's an eight-hour day nowadays. You can't ask me to come and work when I come back home again. I'm going on strike. I've joined the union." Well, I wouldn't be surprised that many Christians think like this too.
But most of us, we are here serving the Lord day in and day out, sowing in season and out of season, when it's morning or noon or night or midnight or early morning, whatever it is. We are there constantly to serve and consider it the privilege to do so. Notice, do you see this servant grumble? No, he doesn't grumble. He serves faithfully, truly, all the way.
But one last point that we must bear in mind. We are saved to serve. But let us bear in mind also this. The Lord is not saying, "I treat you as a worldly master treats his slave. I treat you in this way." God doesn't treat us in this way. That's the remarkable thing. Namely this, that in fact, inconceivable as the picture is, the Lord Jesus serves us when we serve Him. Luke chapter 12 and verse 37 is a verse that really touches my heart. When did a master ever serve his servant? And yet, that is what the Lord Jesus does. Verse 12:37. He says, "If you serve as that servant does serve, blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them." The master Himself will come and serve his servant. The Lord Jesus is not a master who throws his servants around, shouts orders at them. No, no. Remember always what the Lord Jesus did at the Last Supper. How He knelt down before His disciples and washed their feet. You see, this is the other and final principle about this.
The Lord Jesus never commanded us to do anything that He Himself did not do. Now this is the most wonderful thing to observe. Whatever He commanded us to do, He did Himself. When He was here in this world, He served His Father in that same way. Morning, noon, and night. There are twelve hours in a day and He served the Lord all those twelve hours. Faithfully, without murmur, obedient unto death. And not only did He serve His Father, He tells us there in Luke 12 that on that day He will serve us. What a master. What a Lord. I mean, if you are already serving the worldly bosses who are often ruthless and are quite ready to extort you and take whatever you have to give, then how much more privilege it is to serve a master like this. Always remember this. Never command what you yourself are not prepared to do.
This then is the final point about this perfect faith. This perfect faith that is there utterly to serve. To serve because — what is it to say total commitment? We can say total commitment. "I am totally committed." What does that mean? I am not totally committed until I am prepared to serve, and to serve with every last ounce of strength that I have, every bit of energy that I have got. Are you totally committed? And if you are, then set an example of it. That you are prepared to do what you command others to do. He that will not do what he himself commands will never be entrusted with authority. The finest general was the best soldier himself, because when he was a soldier he obeyed implicitly. Only the person who obeys has the right to command. The person who has never obeyed has no right to command. The Lord Jesus has the right to command as Lord because He Himself obeyed unto death. That's the secret of power.
And so here then we conclude as we sum up. What we see here today is a teaching of exceeding great importance. We all, if we truly love the Lord, want to pray this prayer with the apostles: "Increase our faith." Are you prepared to face the condition for increasing the faith? That's the Lord's answer. Do you really want to increase your faith? And here is the parable I'm going to tell you. The way to increase your faith is to become totally subjected to the Lord. Every part of your life committed to Him and submitted to Him. Serving Him without murmur and without grumbling. From morning to night. Never saying, "I have done too much. This is going beyond me. I have given too much." You know, I say with shame sometimes when I'm utterly exhausted, I feel I have given too much. And then I'm shamed. How could I ever give too much? It is not possible to give too much because there is nothing I have that doesn't belong to Him anyway. Whether it's my strength or my physical energy. Whatever I possess is His in the first place. Only when we come to this attitude do we understand total commitment — that I can never give too much to my Lord. I can never give too much of my time or my money. And at no stage can I congratulate myself and say, "I am a profitable servant to God. You see, He has gained a lot from me."
Now I beg of you to understand this attitude, because we live today in an age where the church is a church without power. I pray that we as a church may, by God's grace, become a church with power. And the only path to power is the path of total service. When you have done all — not just some part of it, not just most of it — when you have done all that has been commanded you, and when you are able to say, when you have done all, "We are unprofitable servants," then — then you will have the power that can say to the sycamine tree, to the mulberry tree, "Move hence, be planted in the sea," and it will obey you.
Now this is the word of God that can be tested. I say the glory of the gospel is not that it tells you certain things that there is no way for you to prove whether it's true or not. I have proved it and I have found it to be true. I have seen lives transplanted, rooted up from this world and transplanted into His kingdom. We have been lately thinking a lot about our brother Scotty. Notice how he was rooted up. How he turned his back upon the world, from a very successful and profitable career bringing in an awful lot of money, and what seemed to be at the height of his career. He turned his back upon it all. Rooted up. And not just — now he's been rooted up again. He's left everything behind. He's left his house. He's left all these things. Rooted up to be transplanted in the sea. Now this is a word of God that can be tested. I say the glory of the gospel is not that it tells you certain things that there is no way for you to prove whether it's true or not. I have proved it and I have found it to be true. I have seen lives transplanted, rooted up from this world and transplanted into His kingdom.
We have been lately thinking a lot about our brother Scotty. Notice how he was rooted up. How he turned his back upon the world — from a very successful and profitable career bringing in an awful lot of money and what seemed to be at the height of his career. He turned his back upon it all. Rooted up. And not just now — he's been rooted up again. He's left everything behind. He's left his house. He's left all these things. Rooted up to be transplanted again in this physical sense even into Hong Kong to serve the Lord there. But that was only all made possible, only first and foremost, when he was rooted up from the darkness of sin and transplanted into the kingdom of God.
Have you ever seen this miracle? That is what the Christian is. A tree growing in the sea. Have you ever seen it? The Christian is a wonder to the world. The Christian must always be a puzzle to the world. Who can understand a man who is getting a vast salary, very profitable in his career, and suddenly turns his back upon his career to go out and preach the gospel, going to a place with virtually no money, without a sure prospect of a future? I mean, it's a wonder. No wonder the Bell company — his boss said to Scotty, "I don't understand what you're doing. I don't understand you. I mean, you've got such a good job, you're successful in your career, and you're giving up everything. One year of training, getting no money, losing all the money in the process, and now going out to preach the gospel. What is this?" The Christian is always a puzzle to the world. They cannot understand it. They cannot figure it out. It is so insecure, from the world's point of view, to be planted in the sea.
That's insecurity. But the child of God planted in the sea is more secure than anywhere else. But you see, the sea is very insecure. The world looks at it and says, "Well, I don't want to be planted in the sea. Too uncertain." You see, that is how you become a wonder, a marvel in the eyes of the world. I would that every Christian here will so live the Christian life of this total service, this total commitment to Christ, that you become a wonder to the world. That is how we become lights in the world. That is how we shine in the world, when the people are puzzled by you, when the people are amazed. You see, why is this? How can it be that a tree planted in the sea is nonetheless steady and it grows and is secure in the sea? The wonder. The hand of the Lord has done it. It defies logical explanation because it is the work of God.
God, I pray that you may truly take to heart these wonderful words of the Lord Jesus. He challenges us to prove His power, and those who have proved His power know that His word is true. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.