‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.’
We are called to regard ourselves as not deserving anything.
who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? (cf. Rom. 11:35)
We are called to regard ourselves like servants who return from plowing or tending ship and are not thereby entitled to our rest. We are still obligated to keep working and to continue in the service of the master.
“Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?
Would he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished’?
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast (cf. Eph 2:8-9).
It is true that we don't earn anything. We don't put God in our debt. He doesn't want us to become prideful as if we have. Yet an even greater part of his motivation for telling us to have this attitude seems to be that we can receive his blessings as gifts. He tells us not to expect the master to serve us but to instead expect to serve him. But then in another place he tells us that he will serve us!
Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them (cf. Luk 12:37).
He promises the very thing which he tells us not to expect! And indeed, what right do we have to expect it? None! But the Son of Man comes not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Mat. 20:28).
In the eyes of the world our service to God seems like punishment, especially if it isn't earning anything for us.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
Yet it is precisely this work that, while earning nothing, allows God to purify us just like gold in a furnace. He is even pleased to receive us as sacrificial offerings and to take us to himself. We certainly don't earn the right to judge nations and rule over peoples. But because we trust in him as our King we "understand truth" in a way the qualifies us. We are empowered to "abide with him in love" because we cling to him as he refines us.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
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