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This Week's Sermon THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST 07 October 2007 "Duty" Luke 17:1-10 LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Our culture seems to have lost its sense of duty. We have become so self-centered that doing one's duty in difficult or distasteful circumstances is almost unheard of. Couples abandon their marriage vows at the first sight of trouble and turn their backs on their duty to keep the marriage together. Children are looking for easy answers. They want to play rather than study. Last week the news wires carried the story of a group of high school students in New Hampshire who broke into some school offices and stole copies of tests that they were to take. The authorities arrested them for breaking and entering. Surprisingly, some of the parents complained that they shouldn't be charged with breaking and entering because these crimes are felonies. They should be charged only with cheating, an offense that should result in a slap on the wrist. It was no big deal for the parents.

There seem to be few vocations in life where duty still reigns. Look at our military people, our law enforcement people and you find many doing their duty, even if they are despised by a vocal minority who think we shouldn't have a military or even law enforcement people to guard our borders or arrest criminals. It gets very hard to do one's duty. It happens also in the Church. Pastors do their God-given duty of preaching the Gospel purely and administering the Sacraments according to Christ's institution and groups of malcontents in the congregations cut their already meager salaries and attempt to kick them to the curb, often with the advice and consent of District and Synodical officials.

It seems that when one does his duty, he expects to be rewarded for it. Parents and students expect to be rewarded for studying and doing what is required. Some school districts in our nation have even promised a new car to any student who never misses a day of school during the year. Think of it! They were giving a reward for doing what was expected! Columnist Bert Prelutsky recently complained about our culture of self-esteem: "These days, self-esteem has come to be a birthright. If you're a teenager and you're breathing, polls indicate that you have a doggone high opinion of yourself" [Townhall.com, October 5, 2007]. But teenagers didn't get to be that way without parents or adults who suffer the same malady. In political terms it's called "entitlement."

Part of the problem seems to be that we have trouble motivating people to do the right thing. We think that we can motivate people by offering them rewards. Parents say to their child: "Do your homework and I'll let you watch another half hour of TV," or, "I'll let you go to the mall if you get your work done." Employers have the same problem. Employees expect to be rewarded beyond their wages for doing what is required of them. Sadly, even in the church, there are those who complain and walk away if nobody commended them for doing what they should. People feel entitled to guarantees of money, services, and self-esteem. Nobody seems to do anything from a sense of duty, that cleaning one's room, helping out, taking care of the family, or serving in the church, is required.

Jesus is not simply telling us that we are lazy and that we live in a thankless world, as true as those things might be, nor is he talking about economics or fairness in the workplace. He's telling us how things work in God's kingdom. In our Gospel today we don't seem to find explicit Gospel, only Law, and that's good for us because it helps us see how things really are with God and us.

Jesus' words cut our hearts, don't they?

"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.'" (Luke 17:10, ESV)

Two words stand out here, "commanded" and "unworthy." Neither word finds ready acceptance in American ears these days. We don't like anybody telling us what we should do. We take personal freedom to mean absolute license to be as gross and disgusting as we want. We don't care about others. "No one can tell me what to do," we exclaim, sometimes accompanying the words with obscene gestures and actions. And telling someone that he is unworthy is not helping him have self-esteem.

There was a time when people in our society at least looked at the Ten Commandments as a standard to be attained. Nowadays people openly rebel against them. They see no duty to God nor to their neighbors. They live completely self-absorbed lives. Even if we don't place ourselves in that latter category, we may think that whatever we do with regard to the commandments deserves some kind of recognition.

That brings us to the second word, "unworthy." Actually, the word in the Greek is much harsher. It's "worthless, useless." We soften it in English because we seem to be afraid of offending people. Luther's German translation might come over into English as "good-for-nothing servants." Is it too harsh? Is that what Jesus is saying?

Keep in mind that we are talking about how things work in God's kingdom, not in ours. We have a duty to do, but we have failed to do that duty, all that God commands us to do with respect to him and to our neighbor. None of us can claim to have done our God-given duty as God demands. The Law is simply too severe for us. Our keeping is only in part, at best! Those words of the Preparation of the Divine Service point the accusing finger of the Law at us, words which you yourselves have spoken!

"We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves."

"We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment."

Then why do we perform the Christian life as though God were our audience, expecting him to applaud our efforts? We try. Isn't that enough? Shouldn't God give us a reward for trying? God is not a "soccer mom!" You don't get a trophy for showing up. Only those who have done their duty get the trophy. No, that's not right! You have done only what you should have done! No trophy!

Who has done his duty? We Lutherans are smart enough to discard the whole works thing. At least, I hope we are! I hope that none of you are still counting on what you have done to get God's favor. That will get you only the millstone around the neck in the deepest part of the lake. No, we won't claim our works as such, but we do sometimes claim faith, but "faith is not self-admiration," says David Scaer. Don't expect God to say "Thank you for believing in Jesus." Sadly, many congregations do exactly that! They thank people for doing what they should do!

"If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." (Luke 17:6, ESV)

This Gospel reading proves to us that we have no honors, not even for pastors. We simply are not good enough. Period. So where is the Gospel in this text? Admittedly there doesn't seem to be any, at least, anything specific.

Who can do his duty as God requires? None of us. None of us! But there is One who has, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect Servant who has done the duty that we owed God. Jesus fulfilled this duty perfectly in his life, suffering, and death. He did not come to serve but to be served and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is the One who never failed to do his duty by either committing a sin or by omitting to do all that God has commanded. Jesus fulfilled our duty for us. He became our Substitute. He never complained about being slighted, about being thought of as being unworthy. He never complained when he went to the cross.

All this that Jesus has done is received through faith. Works never enter into the equation. Never. There is no credit, no rewards for trying. And there can be no being proud of our faith as though that merits something. "Faith is the absence of self-admiration, the total annihilation of self before God," says David Scaer. Faith clings to Christ because it is the work of God the Holy Spirit, never our own. We cannot boast of our faith as though we could take credit for believing. It is as the Lutheran Confessions continually point out, solely the work of God.

And now this Servant spreads out a lavish table and serves you, even though he should be served by us. The Servant of all has come this morning to serve you with his true body and blood, to forgive your sins, to renew you in body, soul, and mind. He delights to serve you in this way so that you will be enabled to serve God and your neighbor as he wants.

Doing your duty to God and your neighbor becomes your real delight, and you do it, not because you are looking for thanks or recognition but because Jesus has done all this for you. Then you can say:

"'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"