Luke 17:7-10
An Ear to the Door
Three times in our text, an important word is used. It is the word
"servant." It is important because the word describes what we are in
our service for the Lord. We are God’s servants. Now, there are other
words which describe our relationship to the Lord, words like "sons"
and "children." Then there are words which describe our position in
the Lord, words like "kings" and "priests." But there is no word used
more often of us or that describes our service to Him any better than
the word "servants."
The word is used 119 times in the New Testament. In the gospels and
the book of Acts, it most often refers to a physical slave. In the
epistles, it is most often used to refer to one who has surrendered
himself as a servant to the Savior.
The Greek word (dou-los) means slave or bondman. One who devotes or
gives up himself to the will of another. One who is totally devoted
to another.
I. What should a servant do?
A. That is not a difficult question but it has an overlooked
answer.
1. A servant must serve.
2. A servant that does not serve is no servant.
B. Those who were literal "douloses" had no choice but to serve.
1. They were the property of another. They served
regardless….
a. Slaves would clear the field, plow the field, plant
the field, weed the field, harvest the field, and
then they got to finish the harvest.
b. Inside they cooked, cleaned, washed, built, painted,
repaired, and everything else.
2. They were slaves and they did everything they were told to
do and they did it with no thanks. (Our text)
3. Since we are talking about slavery, let me point out that
no culture every gave slaves any consideration until
Israel.
a. God did not invent slavery. Man did. It was a common
way to dealing with debt and with enemies. Even to
this day, I believe it would be better than our
prison system.
b. However, it was our God who put some limits on the
abuse of slavery.
(1) Jews could not own another Jew for a slave for
more than six years.
(2) Slaves could not be murdered.
Exodus 21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or
his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand;
he shall be surely punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two,
he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
(3) Slaves could not be deformed.
Exodus 21:27 And if he smite out his manservant’s
tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let
him go free for his tooth’s sake.
(4) \\#Deut 21:10-14\\ Slaves could not be
prostituted.
c. Someone asks, "Why didn’t God demand that slavery be
abolished?"
(1) For the same reason God has not demanded that any
other sin be abolished.
(2) God gave man a free will and lets him make his
own choices.
(3) Strange how we don’t mind God taking the free
will of another sinners but we don’t want Him to
infringe upon our free will to sin.
(4) If God was going to abolish some sins, He just
might have abolished ours too.
C. What are Christians douloses supposed to do?
1. They are to serve. They are to do whatever God tells them
to do.
2. They witness; they preach; they teach; they lead; they
sing; they give; they pray; they forgive; they clean;
they paint; they stamp, they scrub, and the list goes on.
3. However, I will say that God’s servants will not render
a thankless service.
4. We are going to get salvation, heaven, the Holy Ghost,
crowns of rewards, a place to serve in eternity and more
than we can imagine.
II. Why are we given this degrading position and expected to comply
with it?
A. In a nutshell because we love Him.
1. Everything that God and Jesus has done for us, it is
because of love.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.
2. Everything that we do for God and Jesus is to be because
we love Him.
1John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved
us.
2Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ
constraineth us.
B. If you think it is impossible that a slave would love his
master and choose to serve him, you are wrong.
1. Perhaps few today would love an earthly master so much,
but the Bible teaches us it is possible.
Exodus 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six
years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall
go out free for nothing.
3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by
himself: if he were married, then his wife shall
go out with him.
4 If his master have given him a wife, and she
have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her
children shall be her master’s, and he shall go
out by himself.
5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love
my master, my wife, and my children; I will not
go out free:
6 Then his master shall bring him unto the
judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or
unto the door post; and his master shall bore his
ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him
for ever.
2. The Bible says that the servant was to lay his ear on a
door or door post to support it, while the master took
an awl (a punch) and bored a hole through his ear.
3. I don’t think anyone today supports forced slavery, but I
want to remind you that some slaves lived better than
some freedmen.
4. I will tell you plainly, I have lived better as the Lord’s
doulos than I ever could have lived apart from my
Master.
a. I will say, I love my Master and I do not want to go
free!
b. I love the wife that He has given me.
c. I love the children and grandchildren that He has given
me.
d. I love the house that He has let me live inside.
e. I love the work that He has given me to do.
f. I do not want to go free.
g. God, I lay my ear against the door post!
C. The question that you have to answer tonight is, "Do you love
Jesus enough to serve and surrender yourself to Him or it is
just talk?"
1. Anyone can say they love God. Anyone can say they are
serving God.
2. I fear we have some Onesimuses.
a. The small book of Philemon is a letter Paul wrote to
Philemon about his runaway slave, Onesimus.
b. Paul bumped into Onesimus in prison and won him to
Christ.
c. Paul wrote the letter called Philemon and gave it to
Onesimus to take back to his master when he was
freed.
d. Get this, Paul sent the slave back!
e. Paul encouraged Philemon to start caring for Onesimus
as a brother instead of a slave, but he still send
him back.
f. Why? Because we are all slaves to one power or the
other.
g. We are all slaves to God or to the devil.
h. Master and bosses are just the middle men.
i. There are some Christians who need to go back to their
Master!
j. Why? Because your Master loves you and you should
love your Master.
D. Why did God want the slave to get his ear bored?
1. It showed commitment on the slave’s part.
a. I have said and continue to say that what is missing
in our world today is commitment - marriage, child
rearing, and most certainly to the church.
b. When those people marked their body, they were making
a commitment.
2. It provided testimony to the Master’s goodness.
a. When someone saw a servant with his ear bored through,
probably wearing an ear-ring (which is what an ear-ring
on a male symbolizes), he understood it was a choice
that servant made.
b. The bored ear said, "My Master is good."
E. We need some Christians to put their ear to the door and show
their commitment to Christ and to testify of their Master’s
goodness.
III. How should a servant serve?
A. I am going to transpose a New Testament passage.
1. The passage \\#Rom 12:6-8\\.
2. There Paul was telling the Christians how to use their
gifts and I want to apply those statements to how we are
to serve our Lord.
B. Christians should serve…
1. …simply.
a. sincerely, singleness - out of a pure heart.
b. The word translated SIMPLICITY in Romans 12:8 is
almost the same Greek word as that translated SINGLE
in Matt 6:22.
Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body
shall be full of light.
c. The idea is that we should have a single purpose. We
should serve for the glory of God.
(1) We serve not for what we can get from the Lord’s
work but for what we can give to it.
(2) We are required not only to serve but to serve
with the right intentions and motives of the
heart.
(a) How has the kingdom of God been helped by
our service?
(b) How has the name of God been lifted up?
(c) What have we added to God’s work?
(d) What is our motive? to give or to receive?
2. …diligently.
a. The word means with care, earnestness, carefulness,
the greatest of concern.
b. This characteristic is mentioned in relationship to
ruling or leading in the house of God.
(1) Certainly, a leader must have a pure heart
(motive) and must take the greatest care to be
certain than even the least of the flock are
looked after.
(2) A decision that hurts even a small number of the
flock is still a bad decision.
(3) Every gift, every service, every ministry must be
conducted with the same diligence.
(4) Giving attention to the smallest detail that "all
things be done decently and in order."
3. …cheerfully.
a. gladly, joyfully
b. We are to serve as a conquered slave, but as a willing
servant.
c. I mentioned that the word servant is used 119 times in
the New Testament.
(1) Most of the uses, especially in the gospels, are
references to forced slaves.
(2) However, when this term is applied to Christians,
many of the times they are references to willing
servants.
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God,
(3) God does not make us His servants. He lets us
decide, but if we decide to lay our ear on the
door post, let us serve Him cheerfully.
Are God’s doulos? We should be wise enough to realize just how good
we have it and bring our ear to the door to be bored through. But we
should also serve Him with singleness, diligence, and gladness.
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