Luke 10:38-42 – The Importance of a ChoiceLuke 11:9 – All Your PrayersLuke 11:5-13 – The Price of PrayingLuke 12:13-15 – Life Is Not Measured by PossessionsLuke 12:41-44 – A Wise and Faithful ServantLuke 13:6-9 – God Expects A ReturnLuke 13:6-9 – God Has RightsLuke 15:1-32 – It’s Shouting TimeLuke 15:11-16 – The Christless JourneyLuke 15:11-14 – What Put the Boy in the Pig Pen?Luke 16:1-13 – How to Fail WellLuke 16:16 – The Battle for Your SoulLuke 16:19-23 – Why We SufferLuke 17:7-10 – An Ear to the Door – Bible study

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 Gods 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 manservants tooth, or his maidservants tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooths sake. (4) \#Deut 21:10-14\ Slaves could not be prostituted. c. Someone asks, "Why didnt 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 dont mind God taking the free will of another sinners but we dont 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 Gods 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 masters, 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 dont 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 Lords 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 slaves 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 Masters 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 Masters 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 Lords 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 Gods 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 Gods 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.