Worse than Poor Service

Scripture: But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’ ... But bring here these enemies of mine, who did not want me to rule over them, and slaughter them in my presence. Luke 19:14,27

Observation: In this telling of the parable of the good and faithful servants, there are actually four types of people. There is the master of course. There are the good servants who work and earn money for the master, and there is the bad servant who simply holds the money and does nothing out of fear. However, there are also subjects who want to completely reject the rule of the master. When the master leaves on his journey, they take action to try to remove the master from his position and status. Therefore, when the master returns and has judged his servants, he turns to the matter of the rebellious subjects and has them executed.

This rebellion is treated much more harshly than the unfaithfulness of the servant. The unfaithful servant feared his master and thus failed to serve him well. However, the rebellious subjects have outright animosity toward the master, seeking to reject him entirely as the master and king. The unfaithful servant has his resources taken away and is sent off. The rebellious subjects are killed ... not just a standard type of death, they are "slaughtered", and right in front of the master so they know this is being done on his orders.

Application: This is the parable so many people should fear ... but don't. Yes, as disciples of Jesus, I take away from this the lesson of the servants, desiring to act and serve the Lord instead of doing nothing with the knowledge I have about his love and mercy. However, most people around me are in full rebellion. They have declared that the Lord is not their master, and they desire to have him removed as their ruler. The two great points for them are:

1) It doesn't matter what you want when it comes to God's rule, for he IS the ruler and will never be removed from that position.

2) The response to your rebellion is not a lack of resources or to be cast away, but rather the response is death.

I have been thinking regularly about others - friends and acquaintances - who are likely living under this death sentence and just don't know it yet. I wish they would fear the Lord and accept Jesus, even if they don't know how to serve him yet.

Prayer: Lord, may I bring your truth to others, as you would have me do, wherever you place me every day. My heart does break for those in rebellion. May I and your church be better and teaching them how to be servants. Amen.