Sevant

This week we begin worship with:

Luke 17:7-8

“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’? 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’?

This passage is strange by modern standards. I regularly thank my employees for what they have done (v9) and in a few weeks I will take my team leads out for a celebratory dinner. 

The servant here is doulos.  It means “slave” and comes from the word deō, which means to bind.  This is not the law we operate under in North Carolina, where employment is at will. Rather they are bound to their current circumstances. 

We too are doulos and serve God.  The point of this passage is that no matter how good we serve we are still a servant (Romans 6:22).

Luke 17:10

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.’”

Yet

This week we begin worship with:

Hebrews 10:37–39

“Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my

righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure

in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of

those who have faith and preserve their souls.

This is cited from the prophecy of Habakkuk:

Habakkuk 2:3-4

For still the vision awaits its appointed time;

    it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it;

    it will surely come; it will not delay.

“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,

    but the righteous shall live by his faith.

It explains the simple thought that faith requires patience. If waiting was not required, neither would be faith. But it also gives the stern warning that shrinking back from that patient faith is the path to destruction.  

We need to start every day saying to ourselves “Yet a little while”.

 

 

despised

 This week we begin worship with:

Isaiah 52:7

How beautiful upon the mountains

    are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

    who publishes salvation,

    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

This is the start of a victory song.  While the text points to a singular "him" that brings the good news, and may indeed point to John the Baptist, or our Lord Jesus himself, Paul rightfully expands this to every individual for it can point to anyone who brings the Good News.

Romans 10:15

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 

The song ends with the victory march.  Slow, determined, safe, and well supplied.

Isaiah 52:12

For you shall not go out in haste,

    and you shall not go in flight,

for the Lord will go before you,

    and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. 

What prompted this battle?  Why did God bare His holy arm (v. 10)?

Isaiah 52:5b

. . . Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. 

I awoke this morning hearing in my dream the name of our Lord Jesus Christ being misused.  My response in the moment was "May He have all the glory and honor due His Name". 

according to

This week we begin worship with:

Isaiah 63:7

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD,

according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the

house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according

to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Oh, praise be to God who does not deal with us according to our merit!  Reread the verse and concentrate on the phrase "according to".

This introductory verse describes the intention of the prophet.  That to recount, which he does in Isaiah 63:7-14 how God, despite their rebellion, God carried them through the exodus all for His glory.

Isaiah 63:10a

But they rebelled

    and grieved his Holy Spirit;

 

Isaiah 63:14

Like livestock that go down into the valley,

    the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.

So you led your people,

    to make for yourself a glorious name.

Nothing they did merited His gracious compassion and love.