Our text is Lk 17:7-10. In Lk 17:10, the servants are to say, “we have done that which was our duty to do”. Today we are going to discuss a servant’s duty. A servant has a responsibility to do his duty.
A servant’s duty, in the example Jesus gave, was principally to plow and feed cattle. Plowing, comparable to what we do with the word of God, is for sowing and reaping. Feeding cattle, then, is similar to us feeding the sheep.
Our two principal duties as servants then deal with the seed and the feed. We must be consistently plowing, sowing, and reaping the seed. Jesus often talked about the harvest. And we must be about feeding the flock, through family devotions, Sunday school classes and Bible clubs, discipleship, and preaching and teaching.
The next servant’s duty we see in this passage is that the servant serves his master before he serves himself. Working for Jesus is not a “Me first” proposition, Lk 9:59, 61, for example.
Notice, the master doesn’t thank the servant for doing his duty. He didn’t do something special for the master. He did his duty. And a servant’s duty goes without praise.
Notice our duty in Ecc 12:13. “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man”. We’re not going to receive any thanks for doing this. But we will certainly be doing what he told us to do and benefiting from our obedience.
Duty, Honor, Country is the guiding principle of the USMA at West Point. A soldier is to recognize that he has a duty. Medal of Honor recipients generally are humble and deferential to those who have served with them. They will say that they have done their duty; that’s all.
When the servant has done his duty, he is to say, “We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do”. He doesn’t treat his service like his master owes him something.
In Matt 20:27-28, when Jesus instructed his disciples about the ministry, he taught them that, “whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”.
Jesus didn’t seek accolades for himself after he rose. He made himself of no reputation. Before his ascension, he gave his disciples commandments by the Holy Ghost and then he left.
Therefore, Jesus is the perfect example of a servant. In Phil 2:7 we read that Jesus “made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant”. Follow his example. Do your duty. Don’t seek anything in return for your service.
If you don’t already know, you should ask the Lord, “What is my duty”? The earlier in life that you ask this question and the sooner that you begin to do your duty, the better you will be.