“And which
of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has
come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? But will he not
rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and
serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does
he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I
think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are
commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty
to do.' "
This raises some uncomfortable questions. Is God saying that employers
should expect their workers to do long hours for no extra reward? Is he saying
that we shouldn’t bother to thank people for doing their duty? Although we can
see how this passage may have been used this way in the past, it doesn’t seem
to fit with modern wisdom about workplace relations.
I think we have to realize that this teaching is aimed at the disciples
(and hence ourselves) as servants of God. It is not a lesson for employers or
managers. The point is that God is not there to serve us; we are there to serve
Him.
That’s obvious, right? Well maybe not so obvious to some Christians.
They seem to think that God exists to help them fulfill their every dream, to
have lovely, contented lives surrounded by all the material possessions and
personal relationships that their hearts may desire.
Jesus makes it perfectly clear. The Kingdom is God’s, not ours. We must
seek to do His will, not the other way around.
Everybody called to Christian service should have v10 as their
trademark. We will never be entitled to
commend ourselves. And our service to
our Lord is never finished. His needs
come before our own.
No comments:
Post a Comment