1. The duty of the servant
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 recline at table’? Luke 17:7 (ESV)
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus . . . Philippians 1:1 (ESV)
3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:3 (ESV)
2. The deferring of the servant
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 recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Luke 17:7–8 (ESV)
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. Luke 12:35–37 (ESV)
3. The due of the servant
9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? Luke 17:9 (ESV)
Martin Luther:
Even though we are in faith … the heart is always ready to boast of itself before God and say: “After all, I have preached so long and lived so well and done so much, surely he will take this into account.” … But when you come before God, leave all that boasting at home and remember to appeal from justice to grace.… I myself have been preaching [grace] for almost twenty years and still I feel the old clinging dirt of wanting to deal so with God that I may contribute something, so that he will have to give his grace in exchange for my holiness. Still I cannot get it into my head that I should surrender myself completely to sheer grace; yet this is what I should and must do.
4. The disposition of the servant
10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ” Luke 17:10 (ESV)
Unworthy/ unprofitable (NKJV): could mean useless or miserable (but the servant is useful) . . . Akhreios literaly means without need. It is an idiom for the idea that nothing is owed to him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:2–3 (ESV)