Kingdom Duties of Unworthy Servants - Luke 17:1-10

In our passage from Dr. Luke’s gospel this Lord’s Day, Jesus continues to teach the disciples what it means to be a true Kingdom disciple in contrast to the Pharisees and their disciples. Jesus is continuing to warn his disciples of how to live in reliance upon his grace by continuing to “beware the leaven of the Pharisees” (Luke 12:1).

Remember that in this larger context of Jesus’ Kingdom teaching, he is soberly warning the disciples about how they are supposed to live in contrast to the world and to even the way the Pharisees and Teachers of Israel had taught. Jesus uses these warnings as the means to make his disciples more holy and thoughtful with regard to how they live each day of their lives.

Jesus wants His people to take temptation and sin seriously and to avoid being the reason a “little one” of his stumbles! He wants His people to understand the power of faith in God, especially in our forgiving other brethren as a gracious response to those who sin against us numerous times and then repentantly (and perhaps repeatedly!) seek forgiveness from us.

We are reminded that as Kingdom Disciples we are not to think merely individualistically in terms of our relationship with Christ, but we are to think as a community, like a family who seeks to help one another in our pursuit of righteousness for His Name’s sake. These are a summary of our Kingdom duties as unworthy servants of Jesus.