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Be Profitable

In Luke 17, the disciples asked the Lord to increase their faith, and Jesus' response shows how faith and obedience are connected. Let's begin in Luke 17:5-10.

Luke 17:5-10
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Jesus shows that when we are obedient, as we should be, we have only done what was expected and that we should not expect to be thanked. We have done nothing deserving of praise in the sight of the Lord. As a Sabbath keeper, a Sabbatarian, I have interacted with others who appear to solely focus on obedience to the exclusion of all else. Near perfect obedience has been preached as a mandate, as a gift of the spirit, and if this is all we do, we are unprofitable servants. There is a reason why the Lord calls these Christians unprofitable servants.

What happens to the unprofitable servant? An answer is provided in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. In this parable, the servants who double their talents are considered profitable and enter into the joy of their lord. On the other hand, the servant who didn't double his talent was called an unprofitable servant. Instead of entering into the joy of his lord, the unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness.

Matthew 25:30
And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

You may wonder why obedience is expected and when obedience is rendered, it only promotes us to the rank of unprofitable servant. On the flip side, disobedience will not do anything for us either. There is a reason why Jesus calls Christians who have done all that is commanded of them unprofitable servants. In other words, once a person has perfectly obeyed God, this person has worked himself up from disobedient to unprofitable servant ready to be cast into outer darkness.

What are some things we can do so that we are considered profitable in the eyes of the Lord? The parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46 provides insight:

Feed the hungry and thirsty.
Welcome strangers.
Clothe those who need clothes.
Visit those who are sick or who are in prison.

Why is the application of obedience important to God? As a teacher, I know that obedience to the law of God, which we must do, is of and by itself a non-synthesized form of learning. For example, while in high school many take classes like algebra. Unless the knowledge learned in algebra is consistently applied outside of the algebra class, most will forget much of what is learned.

So going back to the original question of how do we increase our faith? We must obey God and go beyond by applying our obedience in service to the needs of others.

All verses are from the King James Version.
This site provided by Tom Laign. To all who may believe differently, I also extend peace and love.
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