Chosen Lineage

Unlike the master described in the parable of the unworthy servants, God does not treat us as though we deserved nothing, as though we were worth nothing. God cares about us; God helps us live a blessed life.

For example, in one passage of Scripture, the disciples are sent out to preach the Gospel and return after their evangelistic journey. When they return to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord says to them, “Let’s go away to a place by ourselves and rest.” In other words, the Lord knew that these people had been working hard, laboring arduously at the task He had entrusted to them of going to the villages and preaching the Gospel. When they return, He is aware that they could use a vacation, so to speak, and that is why He tells them, “Let’s go now to a deserted place and rest a little.” Very different from the master portrayed in this parable, a master utterly inconsiderate of his servant’s need for rest.

God loves us. God treats us as children. God treats us as people worthy of His consideration. God blesses us constantly, rewards us, shares with us, seeks our company, seeks intimacy with us, and is pleased when we draw near to Him to praise Him, worship Him, and express our needs to Him. God invites us to open our hearts before Him, and in one passage the Lord Jesus Christ says, “I will no longer treat you as servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing,” but that He will treat us as friends.

Let me read you the specific passage, found in John chapter 15, verse 15, where the Lord says to the disciples, “I will no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from My Father.”

So we see here that the Lord does not treat us with that attitude. But the underlying understanding of our relationship with God, deep down, should be this: No, even though God treats me differently, what I really am is a person who, ultimately, has no rights—legally, ontologically, in terms of what I truly am, I have no right to ask God for anything. But glory to the Lord, and thanks be to Him, that He treats me instead with consideration, friendship, and fatherly affection.

And that is what is wonderful about this parable: it teaches us both things. On the one hand, it tells us plainly: You deserve nothing; you must be wholly given over to the will of God; you must live a life of complete surrender, as though you were slaves. But it also reminds us, implicitly, that God has in fact adopted us as children. He treats us not as slaves but as members of His family. We have been adopted; we have been grafted into the tree of God’s family.

And now, since I have given you the wound, I also want to bring the healing and anoint that wound with a little oil. The wonderful thing is that God treats us as friends, as children, even though He does not have to. Despite the fact that what we truly are is slaves, unworthy of anything good, God calls us His children, and Jesus calls us His friends. Now, in our true relationship in grace, everything is generosity and goodness on God’s part—not because we deserve it, but because God is merciful and loving.

This oppressive and somber picture that Jesus paints through this parable reminds us that this is how things stand legally in the Kingdom of God, and that if God wanted to treat us that way, He certainly could. But it then invites us to remember that we must thank God because He treats us very differently: through His grace we can hope for good things; we can draw near. For example, the passage says that we should come boldly to the throne of grace to receive help in time of need.

What a lovely image, isn’t it? We approach God’s throne not as though coming before a demanding, exacting, surly judge, but before a throne of grace, love, mercy, and generosity. And it says that we must come before that throne boldly, by way of a broad and generous path—the path Christ has opened for us through His death on the cross.

Another passage I like, one that also brings to mind that benevolent dimension of the way God treats us, though He does not have to treat us that way, is the passage in Romans 8 that says, “He who gave His own Son on the cross, how will He not also give us, together with Him, all the other things?” Right? The idea is that if God has already done the greatest thing, giving up His Son, how will He not also give us the small things we ask of Him in everyday life?

I also think of the passage in Ephesians, in chapters 1 and 2. For example, in Ephesians chapter 2 we see that the Lord Jesus Christ tells us through the apostle Paul, “So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Ultimately, God has every right to treat us as foreigners, as people merely staying there who must remain off to one side of the house, attending to the people. But it says: No, no, God now treats us as citizens. We have citizenship. We are not in the Kingdom of God illegally; rather, we have every right to enjoy all the blessings of a citizen, and more than that, we are members of God’s family.

The other passage I like very much is found in First Peter, chapter 2, verses 9 and following. Listen to this beautiful passage, too, for our encouragement and blessing. It says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired by God, that you may proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You who once were not a people but are now the people of God; who once had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy.”

It is as though at one time we deserved nothing. We were condemned under God’s wrath; we were cut off from the inheritance of God’s people. But God has now brought us into His family and made us a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a nation holy and set apart by Him, so that we may serve Him and enjoy the good blessings that God has for us.

What a beautiful contrast! On the one hand, we must consider ourselves unworthy servants who, ultimately, have nothing to add to the Kingdom of God. But on the other hand, we are members of God’s family, and God has treated us in a way we did not deserve. We truly are children of God, with all the rights of a child in the heavenly family.

May these be the foundations of our identity, and may God help us always to be grateful for the Lord’s wonderful goodness and consideration. God bless you, and until our next meditation.