Scripture Passage

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon Text

Straying away from God

Explain my life with two words, I will say indebted life. I feel indebted. No one can stand before God with absolute confidence because we all have our shortcomings because we are all sinners. That’s why Saint Paul said this “There is no one who is righteous. Not even one. There is no one who has understanding. There is no one who seeks God, all have turned aside together. They have become worthless. There is no one who shows kindness. There is not even one. Their throats are open graves. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of Vipers is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are Swift to shed Blood ruin and misery are in their path and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” He was very honest about who we are.

Gospel of who we are

The image he portrayed was pretty bad, but that’s who we are. This was how he felt. Not only about himself, but also about all others. He’s basically saying that we are indebted to God’s grace and mercy. I think that is what the gospel is. That is what the gospel is, Understanding. Understanding the gospel is to understand that we are indebted. We live a good life. Not because we deserve it. Not because we did it so well, but because of God’s grace. Feeling indebted is not necessarily living a life of shame and guilt, feeling indebted is to see a greater power working in our lives. Then our own power, something bigger is behind us. That’s why we feel indebted. There’s something greater power that is working in our lives, then our own ability, If you’re feeling indebted is to see graciousness hidden in our lives. Sometimes we all feel their life is cruel. We experience problems after problems. We get hurt by those who are very close to us, but we did not define our life. Only with this negative attitude or negative picture. In the midst of cruelty, we experience kindness in the midst of harshness. We find comfort in the midst of storm, we see a hiding place.

Attitude of Entitlement

There is graciousness hidden in our life. God made our life that way in the midst of hardships and threats and dangers, there is graciousness hidden in life and that’s how God, that’s how God made this life and this world, when we find it, we are grateful and realize that you’re are indebted. In today’s story. Jesus focuses on the servant, is a very strange story, but Jesus focuses on the servant and his feeling of indebtedness. He worked hard all day in the field, but he didn’t have this attitude of entitlement. “I worked so hard in the evening. I come, I get what I deserve to get.” He didn’t do that. He rather said we are worthless slaves. We have done only what we are to have done that Confession comes from our mouth, where we experience the amazing love of God.

Power of Life

Life is not all cruel. Life is not all depressing. Life is not all bad. There are a lot of good people around us. They are like angels. They help us. They pray for us. They support us and they are genuinely kind. When we experience the love, from these kind people, we get inspired. That’s what the disciples experienced. When they met Jesus, they experience the cruelty of life. But when they met Jesus, they experience kindness and they were all inspired and Jesus told them this message, “even though you are sinners, God loves you.” When they recognize that when they realize that they all felt indebted, Jesus, let them find graciousness hidden in their lives. Through Jesus. They realize that life has a power to move into the direction of graciousness. Life has the power, Even though you did nothing. Life has a power tip, takes you into the direction of graciousness. Life’s life leads us to good place. That’s what David realized. So he confessed this way. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” God made our life move towards green pastures and beside still waters. That’s why we love life.

Cause and Effect

That’s why I love life. Life has the power to move into graciousness because God made it that way. We are not condemned to live in a world of cause and effect. You are not cursed to live in a life in a world where cause and effect control. We are not condemned to live in the world where the righteous get the reward and the unrighteous gets the punishment. While we are yet sinners. Jesus died for us and we have received the salvation that is different from the world of cause and effect. that is the world of gospel. That’s what the world of gospel looks like. We didn’t do much. And yet God blessed us abundantly. There’s a beauty of story of vineyard. Some people came at nine in the morning. Some people at 12, some people have Three. Some people even came one hour before. At the end of the day, the person, the people who came one hour before received the same full day’s wage.

The Graciousness of Life

To them, the wage was not a wage to them. That wage was the graciousness of life they experienced. The graciousness of life. Life is not all. Life is not all about wage. Life is not all about getting what we deserve. Life is about graciousness. That’s why we live with this indebted feeling. Sometimes I meet all people who are facing the last moment. They have lived a long life. So they know something about life. Often from their mouth. I hear this. “I haven’t done much all my life. I’m just worthless Servant Life has been good to me. I don’t deserve all the good things that I enjoy all my life.” I hear that from their mouth. They’re not just saying it. They feel it deep inside. They discovered the reality of indebtedness That’s Wonderful. To be able to discover that in life, Jesus came to this world to teach us that we are all indebted people by showing his love for the unlovable. By loving the unlovable.

The Power of Graciousness

He showed graciousness, we thank God for sending Jesus to teach us that once we taste, the graciousness of life, we become gracious to others. And that is very important. That is how God wants us to live in this cruel world. God wants all of you to be gracious people showing graciousness to others, showing mercy to others, the people will find comfort through your graciousness.

What is required of you

Micah understood this message very clearly. This is what he said. “The prophet Micah with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high, shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves that year old, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul. He has told you all mortal, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god.”  God does not 1000 pounds of Rams from you.  God does not want tens of thousands of rivers of oil from you. God does not want your money.  God wants loving kindness. God, wants your mercy, Be kind to each other, be merciful to each other and go and do justice. That’s what God requires of you.