The Profitable Servant

Not P-R-O-P-H-E-T profit, like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, but P-R-O-F-I-T profit. Like the thing that Wall Street likes, the thing like all the businesses like, the things that you and I like. You know, profit is one of those things that, well, I guess make the world go around. You have to make a profit if you're in business, because if your income is consistently under your expenditures, your business isn't going to last for so long. Happens in our personal life, as well. We need to, you know, have our income at least match our expenses, and it's nice to show a profit and have some reserves in hand.

Profit is something that is good, something that we need to look to. Profit can be that of money, but there's other ways that we profit, as well. I guess one of the things I should mention, you know, that it is one of the ways people profit today. So many people have their retirement savings in 401ks that are dependent on the stock market. And so when you see things that happened like yesterday, you know, the newscast I watched in the afternoon showed how much the average 401k had decreased during the day, and I thought, wow, that would be like, that would be like horrendous to be thinking about all those things all the time, but they do a good job of calculating those things.

But people invest in the stock market not because they want to lose money, but because they want to make money. They want to make a profit off of it. It's one way to do that. But we profit in other ways, too. We should profit in our relationships with husband and wife. If husband and wife, if it's a good match, they both profit from each other, they become better over time. Having been with each other and having built on each other's strengths and helping each other eliminate the weaknesses as they grow together and as they love more and become more like the union that Jesus Christ and God the Father intended in marriage, that's a profitable relationship.

And, of course, the most profitable relationship we should have is the relationship that we have with God. If we're not profiting from the relationship with God, if we're not becoming a better person, if He isn't seeing a profit from us in His calling and the Spirit He gives in us, then that's something we would want to be concerned about. Let's go over to Job. Let's go over to Job 22. Job is a book that's full of questions, and we know what the basic story of Job is, but throughout the book, Job is going through his trial, and his friends come, and they ask him questions, and they accuse him of this and say, he must have been doing something wrong for all this to befall him.

And it was a trial from God, and through it, God was going to reveal the weakness in Job that He didn't see before all this happened. But in Job 22, we have His friend Eliphaz asking a question of Him, and this is how he phrases it. Verse 1, it names Him. Eliphaz answered Job, and he said, verse 2, Can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous, or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?

And you know, as you read through the chapter, what Eliphaz is saying, God has everything. You don't make Him any richer, Job. You're not profitable to Him. Can we do these things? Does God find pleasure in the righteous? Does it make Him in any way gain to have someone become blameless, which we've all been called to become?

Well, I would say the answer is yes. Certainly, God owns everything, and God doesn't need me, and He doesn't need you, and He didn't need Job for His plan to be fulfilled. It certainly is a privilege and a blessing that He's called us and made known His way, and that He's given us His Holy Spirit. After we repent and are baptized and commit ourselves to Him, it certainly is a blessing, but He didn't need us.

If it wasn't us, it would be someone else. But is it a pleasure to God to see us become profitable to Him? Yes, I think it is. Yes, I think He wants to see a profit in His investment. When He invests His time, when He invests His calling, when He invests His Holy Spirit in us, He expects to see a return. Let's go over to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. Of course, we have three well-known parables in Matthew 25. The parable of the ten virgins, the parable of talents that we'll look at, and the parable of the sheep and goats that wrap up that chapter comes right after Christ's harrowing words in the Olivet prophecy of what will befall the world in the end days. But in verse 15, there's a well-known parable. Chapter 25, verse 15. Well, let's begin in verse 14. Verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And the one he gave favored five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. So it was God who gave the talents. It wasn't the innate abilities of these people that God gave them, all came from them. And for some reason, He gave one five, another one two, another one one. The point is, all our talents come from God. The point is, to everyone He calls, He gives a talent, and He makes that available to us.

Going on, verse 16, it says, Well, then he who had received the five talents went, and traded with them, and he made another five talents, a one hundred percent profit, pretty good profit, when you invest five and you get ten in return. And likewise, who had received two gained two more also, another hundred percent return on his investment.

But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I've gained five more talents besides them.

And his Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will wake you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Well done. You turned me a prophet. I gave you talents and you went to work and you knew I wanted to see growth. You knew I wanted to see more in return than what I invested.

Your efforts, your choices, your decisions resulted in ten talents that you now have. Good job. Same thing happened with the one who had two who doubled those talents. And he got the same commendation from his Lord. Let's drop down to verse 24. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hardened man, reaping where you have in stone and gathering where you have in scattered seed.

And I was afraid I went and hid your talents in the ground. Look, there you have it. What is yours? But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have in scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have at least received back my own with interest.

How could you have done that? I didn't give you that one talent so you could just sit on it. I didn't expect that you would have that one talent and only return next six years later. It would still be the same. I expected growth. You're not a profitable servant. You turned one into nothing. Well, he turned one into one. That one would turn into nothing because he put no effort into it and didn't grow or return the investment at all. Therefore, verse 28, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.

For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who doesn't have, even what he has will be taken away and cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Is God looking for profit? Is He looking when He invests in us that there's going to be something more in return than what He gives us? I think the answer is pretty clear. I think that what He expects us to be five years from today, no matter how long we've been in church, is far different than what we are today.

I think what He expects of us today is far different than what we were when we were baptized or when we were called. He's given us all talents. He's given us all abilities. He's given us all a mission. He wants us to grow. He wants a return on His investment. He wants us to be profitable. Jesus Christ said virtually the same thing. Let's go to John 15. I think Mr. Johnson addressed this on the day of Pentecost, but let's look at it again. John 15. Jesus Christ, when He's talking to His disciples, He also indicates it's not the status quo that God is looking for.

He's not looking for that one talent that He gives to be given back to Him. He's looking for us to increase, to grow, to become profitable. Chapter 15, verse 1, He says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit, He takes away.

I had one talent, and I gave Him one talent back. And He took that one talent away. Every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit, He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes that if they may bear more fruit, continually growing, continually producing. Drop down to verse 4. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you. Christ says, unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.

Verse 6. If anyone doesn't abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. They gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

Verse 8. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples.

True disciples of God. True disciples of Jesus Christ bear fruit.

They increase over time. You know, Jesus Christ, as He uses this analogy, you remember the time when He came upon the fig tree, and it had no fruit on it. What did He do? He cursed that fig tree. We expect our fruit trees to produce. We live here in Florida. If you have an orange tree in your backyard, you expect that you're going to get some oranges off of it, right? But after a year, after a year, after a year, a tree that used to produce fruit or never produced fruit, I don't know that you would keep it around. Just for decoration, you would probably cut it down. If a tree doesn't bear fruit that's supposed to bear fruit, what good is it?

When I was growing up, we went to my grandmother's farm every summer, and one of the trees that they had there was a persimmon tree. I've never had a persimmon other than when I was at that farm. Never seen them in the store, but whatever we went there, the persimmons were ready, and the tree was just loaded with them. So every year, we ate the persimmons. Our mouth got all puckered and whatever. When I got to be 18, I didn't go down there for a number of years, but then when we did go down there once, when the kids were born, whatever, I asked my uncle because the persimmon tree was gone. I said, where's that persimmon tree? Oh, it stopped bearing fruit, so we had to cut down. That's what you do with fruit trees. If you expect them to bear bruised fruit, you expect them to produce fruit. Now, when they don't produce that anymore, you cut them down and you get rid of them. In Christ-based analogy with us, he expects us to be producing fruit. He expects us to be growing in that area. Let's go over to Romans. Romans 2.

Romans 2, verse 25.

We read these verses when we compare baptism and a circumcised heart to the Old Testament sign of the covenant, which was physical circumcision. But notice what Paul says here in Romans 2. He says, for circumcision is indeed profitable. Circumcision is indeed profitable, as he writes to those of the Jewish persuasion, if you keep the law. But if you're a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. There's something to go along with this physical sign that we have, just like there's something that goes along with baptism, rather than just I'm baptized and resting on your laurels and not producing fruit. If you keep the law, it's profitable. But if you're a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, won't his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? Isn't God looking at the fruit? Isn't God looking at what it's producing in that man's life, rather than just the physical manifestation? Therefore, verse 27, it will not be physically uncircumcised if he fills the law. Judge you who even with your written code and circumcision are transgressor of the law.

God is looking for people who produce fruit, not just people who have the outward symbol of physical circumcision. They wanted to think that that made them who they were. We're in danger of the same thing. Baptism is something that God requires. It's symbolic of us surrendering our lives to God, burying the old man, coming up out of the waters of baptism and letting him write his law and principles on our hearts led by his Holy Spirit.

If all we ever do is get baptized, we never grow. If we never produce any fruit, if we aren't profitable to God in that way, it means nothing. It means nothing.

He doesn't call us to be sad as well. He wants, and he's looking for, profitable servants.

Let's go over to Galatians. Galatians 5. Just look at the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

You know what they are.

But let's read them again. The fruits of the Spirit. What God is looking for you and me to produce when we're baptized, when we attach ourselves to him and commit to him. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Agape. We've talked about agape love before. It's the type of love that Jesus Christ so perfectly demonstrated. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. We talked about peace. That's part of the sermon a couple weeks ago. Long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, the ability and the strength to say no to what we really want to do, what our carnal nature wants to do, and what we know to be right. And the strength to do what's right, even when it may not be the thing that we want to do. Against such, there is no law. You know, when people see that fruit in the church, it's pleasing. It's pleasing to God to see people produce that fruit. You know what? It's pleasing to people in the world when they see that fruit as well. When they see you producing the fruit, and on you is growing that fruit of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, self-control. It's pleasing to them. They don't know how you got that way. They wish they could be that way. They wish that their tree could produce that, but you have something in you that God has given that should produce that. And if it's not, it's not pleasing to God. It's not pleasing to men. He's looking for us to produce fruit.

Let's go back to Luke 17. Luke 17 Christ gives another parable about a servant, and you and I are all called to be servants of his and servants to each other. Luke 17. We'll pick it up in verse 7. And right here in the middle of him, Christ's talking about some other things. He throws in this analogy, if you will, this parable, if you will, to kind of make a point to the disciples. In verse 7, he says, And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and sit down to eat? So what he's saying, if you have a servant, you're paying him, he's out there doing the work that you've told him to do, do you immediately call him in and say, Hey, you've worked hard, come in and eat supper? He says no. Verse 8, Rather he will say to him, Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me, till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink. Isn't that what we would say to the servant? You take care of me, you work for me, you do my will, and then when all that's done, you can sit down and eat and drink. Verse 9, Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?

I think not. You know, there's a very good principle there. All of us have worked. Maybe we go to work every day now. Maybe we worked in time past.

I never had a boss who at the end of every day thanked me for being there. Never said, Thank you for showing up today. Thank you for doing your job. It was just expected. That was just kind of the base thing of what I was hired to do. The base thing of what you were hired to do, to be there, to serve, to do the things that you were commanded to do. You've got your job description, you fulfill them.

You know what? God gives us our job description. We're called the Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments to form the basis of life that we live by. That dictate our thoughts. That should become part of the way we act, the part of who we are. That God is first in our decisions. That we don't take His name in vain. That we keep the Sabbath day holy. That we don't commit adultery. That we don't kill. That we don't covet. That we don't steal and lie. That those become part of who we are. And that's the baseline. That's what He expects. Every single person, whoever expects to have eternal life, will obey God. Obedience is one of the things that is absolutely required. And anyone who tells you different is absolutely flat out wrong. You can't go through the Bible and think anything other than obedience is required. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, obeyed. And Hebrews 5, 8-18, it says that He learned obedience through suffering. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey. No doubt about that. Obedience is required. So any church, any person who tells you, Ten Commandments, Christ fulfilled them, dead wrong. Send them to Me, but you yourself should be able to go into the Bible and tell them, No, Jesus Christ didn't. Obedience is a baseline. No different than you showing up at work every day. If you start not showing up at work every day, if you start taking the liberties and think, Too tired today, don't want to go there today, better things to do today, and you show up at work two, three days a week instead of five. You're not going to have your job long, are you? And if we start playing with God's commandments and we don't obey and we take liberties with what He has commanded us to do, same thing. There's a baseline. Obedience is required. That's what the servant was doing here. Let's read verse 10. He did what he was told to do. He went out and he worked in the field. He prepared the supper for his master. In verse 10, he did everything he was commanded to do. So likewise, you, when you have done all the things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.

What kind of an eye-opener, isn't it? We can keep the Sabbath day and be a church every single Sabbath, or in many cases, most Sabbaths, whenever you feel like being at Sabbath.

We can pay our tithes faithfully. We can be at every holy day. We can never take God's name in vain physically. We can never murder. We can even work hard on never hating anyone.

If that's all we do, you are an unprofitable servant. That's the least that's required of you.

That's what God commands us to do. That's the commandments that He gives us. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 are supposed to be part of our character, part of what we do.

And if that's all we do, we're unprofitable servants. We're servants, but we're unprofitable servants. And we read what happens to unprofitable servants who don't produce fruit, who don't increase their talents from one or two or five to two, or four and ten and two or whatever. God is looking for a prophet. Let's go back to Matthew 19.

Matthew 19. Another well-known interchange between Jesus Christ and the young rich man. Matthew 19. Verse 16.

A question that we, each one of us, may ask. If Jesus Christ was right here, and of course we can approach Him anytime we want when we yield to Him in prayer, verse 16, Behold, one came and said to Him, Good Teacher, What things shall I do that I may have eternal life?

One of the key questions of life. So Christ said to Him, Why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.

Okay. And the young rich man said to Him, Which ones? Christ said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not fail, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The young man said to Him, Well, I've done all these things. I've kept all these things from my youth. What else do I lack? Is that all I need to do, is keep the commandments?

Christ said to Him, If you want to be perfect, if you want to fulfill what God has called you to, to become blameless, to become perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.

He's saying, just keeping the commandments isn't enough. You've got to do more. You've got to be able to be willing to divest yourself of everything that's important to you to serve God.

The young rich man contemplated that. He thought that's an awfully lot to give up, an awfully lot to give up. But when he heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. I don't want eternal life that much, is what he was saying.

How about us? How about us? Do we? What is the price that we say? That's all we give. That's all we give.

You know, as we read about this young man, when we read about the servant in Luke 17, we've all been employees. And there was a time when I, you know, had the opportunity to run some hospitals. And I remember, well, many of the people that worked for me, many of the department heads, and many of them were very, very good. I enjoyed working with them, and some of them were just not good. And it was, I hate to say, a blessing to be able to see them leave. There's one, one man, it was a young man in particular that I remember very well.

I don't even remember his name, but I can see him. And I remember the conversations he and I had. He was the director of one of our departments, a major one. And he was there when I got there.

And you know, he was a good employee. When you looked at the paper, he showed up at work every day, everything that was on his job description he did. But I was never was more frustrated with anyone in my life than I was with that man. Because you know what? He never went above and beyond what his job description was. Everything he did was okay, but he never went above it. He never gave more. He never had an idea. He never came in and said, we could do this. We can do this differently. We can save money here. We can attract more patients here. We can serve these doctors better. Never did it! And I knew that that department was languishing, but you know what? There was nothing I could do because on paper, boom! He was keeping all the commandments right down the line. He did it, but he was not a profitable servant. He was an unprofitable servant, and he was frustrating and he was irritating to me because he had potential, but he just didn't want to do any more than what was required. Eventually he left, and it was a wonderful day. No, I didn't think to see him go. I can't say that, you know, because the next person that came in was different than him. They had ideas on how things could improve and everything. I would tell any of us who are employees, give more. Be willing to give more than what you are. It's not enough to just show up every day. It's not enough to just do what you're asked to do. Be a profitable employee. If you're a profitable employee, a profitable servant, you will see the good things happen to you. But if you're an unprofitable servant, you may check off all the check marks and say, I did it, I did it, they did it, but you will never be satisfied and your employer won't be satisfied with you. Jesus Christ was a blessing to us. He expects us to be a blessing to others. And He expects us as His servants to be blessings to each other, and a profitable, favorable servant, or someone that He would look at and be very happy with our performance as well. You might say, okay, I've been in the church for 40 years, 50 years. I'm getting older. When do I get to stop producing fruit? Let's look at what God says about the people that He calls. Psalm 92. Psalm 92. Psalm 92, verse 12, The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Eternal shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Eternal is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

You know, God gives us talents. He gives us abilities. Every single person in this room is here for a reason, and God is equipped with you with what He wants you to be in this congregation. The whole house fitly framed together, what every joint supplies God has given.

We have to be willing to use what He has given. We have to be willing to be part of it, and that may change from time to time. When we're younger, it may be that we are more than capable and happy to stack chairs, more than happy to coordinate the potlucks and clean up and do all those things. Later in life, our role may be more to encourage people, to exhort people, and the older people that are with us, I'm telling you, it is a blessing to have you with us, to see the example that you set. And so many of you who are here every single Sabbath, when so many other times other people can't get here every single Sabbath, but others do, and they set the example of what God expects them to do. We can always be encouragers. We can always be exorgers. We're all here to help each other. God calls us individually, but He puts us in a body, and He looks for us to encourage and help each other and to bear fruit that will benefit and be a blessing to each other. That's what He's called us to do, to bear fruit and to encourage each other that everyone here, regardless of age, regardless of whatever we might call natural abilities, because God gives us what we need, and He just put us all here for a reason, that we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we don't, we're unprofitable servants. None of us want to be an unprofitable servant and have the fate that happens to those trees that don't bear fruit. How do we become profitable servants? What do we need to do? What does God say? Now, let's go back to Luke 17, because you know some of the passages that we've read, we see some of the things that we can do to become profitable servants.

Of God. Profitable servants to each other. In Luke 17, where Christ talks about the unprofitable servant who just does what He's commanded and nothing more, He talks about this after some other things that He's discussing with His disciples, who are you and me. Let's notice in verse 5, just a couple of verses before verse 7, where that parable begins, in verse 5, says the apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith.

Now, that's a pretty basic and simple request, isn't it? Increase our faith.

He goes on in verse 6, and He kind of gives them something that if they had faith, what they would be able to do, or the faith that Christ would be looking to develop. He says, though the Lord said, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say that this mulberry tree would be pulled up by the roots and planted in the seed, and it would obey you.

You know, I've never done that. I don't believe right now that I could even say to that chair, move, and it would. And I don't think either of you have told a mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the seed. But Christ said, if you have faith just as little as a mustard seed, that you could say that and it would obey you. I have to ask myself, what does that say about my faith? What does that say about all our faith? When Christ said, when the Son of Man returns to earth, will He find faith?

What about us? What about us? Do we have the faith? And the apostles who sat with Jesus Christ, who heard Him talk, who watched Him heal people, who watched Him preach to people, who watched Him be good to people and display all the fruits of the Spirit, when they heard Him talk, they said, increase our faith.

You know, one of the prayers that we may want to be praying to God is, increase our faith.

Let us know where we're not having the faith that you would have us have. Where is our faith? Are we single-mindedly having faith in you, or is it a double-minded faith?

Is it a double-minded faith? Let's go over to 2 Chronicles for a second.

2 Chronicles 16, we find a king by the name of Asa. Now, we've talked about Asa before. Asa was a good king. In his early days, he absolutely had faith in God. When a battle would come his way, he wouldn't even think about it. He would just trust in God for God to win that battle for Israel, and God was faithful to do that. And under Asa's reign, Israel prospered.

But down in chapter 16, as Asa was on that throne for a while, we see something happen with him. The faith that he had in his early years seems to have waned a little bit when he had only faith in God and trusted in him totally. Something changed. In verse 1 of chapter 16, it says, In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Beishah, king of Israel, came up against Judah and built Rama that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Well, here's a challenge. Here's a real trial. How are we going to deal with that? He had a trial of someone sieging him. We have other trials that confront us in life, whether they be of anything you can name. So what did Asa do? In the early days, he would have gone right to God and said, You know, my faith is in you. But Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house. And he sent the ben-hayedad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I sent you silver and gold. Come, break your treaty with Beyesh, the king of Israel, so he will withdraw from me.

No mention of God here. Somewhere on the line, Asa decided he would fix his own problem. He would go and sign a treaty with this other king, and that's how he would solve the problem.

Down in verse 9, we see what God's comment to him is. It says, The eyes of the eternal run to and fro, throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong, on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. In this Asa, you have done foolishly. Therefore, from now on, you shall have wars. Asa, you didn't have faith in me. You had faith in this other king, ben-hayedad. You went to him, and you tried to resolve it with a treaty with him. That's not what you did in your earlier days. Somewhere along the line, you've lost faith. You've let it water down a little bit. You've looked around, and you thought, I can handle this on my own. Later on, Asa, in the 39th year, in verse 12 of the same chapter, he has a health affliction come upon him. In the 39th year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe. Yet in his disease, he didn't seek God, but the physicians. Where was his faith? Where was his faith? And he died. Nothing wrong with consulting the physician. Where was his heart? Would God heal him, or was he looking to someone else? The apostle said, increase our faith. If we had faith just as much as a mustard seed, we could say to that tree, be uprooted, and planted there, and it would do it.

The apostle said, increase our faith. If we're looking to be profitable servants, we can ask God, increase our faith. Show us how to grow our faith. Show us how to be more like Jesus Christ. Show us more how to be what you want us to be.

There's a saying that I've heard many times over the last few years, and I really just kind of accepted it, I guess. People will say it to me when something's happening and whatever, and they're going to do this, and they're going to do that. You've probably heard the same thing. You know, the proverb, if you will, goes, God helps those who help themselves. Ever hear that? God helps those who help themselves. Sometimes I hear it. In fact, I heard it this week from someone. I already put the sermon together, and I thought, oh, well then you'll be hearing about God helps those who help themselves today.

Where in the Bible do you find the verse, God helps those who help themselves? Not there. Not there. By chance, I happened to be looking up something, and up popped, God helps those who help themselves. Is it in the Bible? And I thought, well, it must be in the Bible, right? God expects us to do the things, live the life that we have, and indeed He does. We can't sit back and do nothing. We can't sit back and just do absolutely nothing. We have to live the way God wants us to live. We have to abide by the principles that He gives us to do. We have to obey His commandments. We have to obey His principles of health as well.

You know where the saying, God helps those who help themselves, came from?

One place told me it was Benjamin Franklin who said it, and indeed he did say something like that. But the real original place that that came from—let me read it to you. It says, It comes from Esip's Fables, where a man asks Hercules to help him get his wagon out of the mud. But Hercules can't be bothered, so he replies, Man, don't sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulders on the wheel. The gods—not God, but the gods—help them that help themselves.

That's where that comes from. Will God help us? Absolutely. Does he want to know that we're the first resource that he looks to? Absolutely. Just something to think about. The apostle said, Increase our faith. Want to be a profitable servant? Ask God. And mean it when you ask Him. Increase our faith. Let's go back to Luke 17. That's not the only thing that Christ said in that chapter, where he concluded it with the analogy of the unprofitable servant.

Back in verse 1 of chapter 17, he's talking and he says, It's impossible that no offense should come. Chapter 17, Luke verse 1, But woe to him through whom they do come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

You know God puts us all in His family. He calls us whenever He's ready to call us. At your time of life, some of us have been in the church following God for a number of years. Others are new. Others have just come at the time that God has called them. And you know what? They're just as much as part of this family as you, as the longest-term member that's here. And we all have a responsibility to each other. We're all here to follow God, to listen to His words, to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but to be able to be come together, to exhort one another, even more so as the day is approaching.

It says in Hebrews, and after the results of yesterday's election in Britain, I would say the day is approaching a little more quickly than we might have thought a month ago.

Only God knows. He puts us all together. He's not interested that any of the new ones that He brings in be offended in any way. And I don't mean offended by, I don't like your tie or your shoes aren't shined. Come on, that would be offensive to anyone, there's a number of things that we can do to offend someone and not drive them away. We should be very aware and very protective of each other. We should be encouraging. We should be loving each other. God told us to love and to be a blessing to each other. He put us in this family so that we would grow, so that we would become who He wants us to become, and so that in this environment people can grow and become what God wants them to become. No one should be offended.

No one should be judging someone or making comments about this or that or whatever. Let God grow people just the way He has grown you and me. Be kind, be helpful, be brothers, be sisters, love one another. Christ says it would be better because as He puts people into the family, that's part of the fruit that He wants this church to produce, just like we were produced from the time that we came in and grew, each of us. So we can make sure that what we're doing is paying attention to each other, encouraging each other, getting to know each other, watching out for each other's needs, providing what others need. If we see a need, fulfilling it.

Can't find a one-on-one with Amazon says, if you see a brother in need, find out what it is and do it, but it is the way you become a profitable servant.

Christ said it. Let's keep on going. Let's go down to verse 3. So we can pay attention to that as we become profitable servants, that we would be someone who would nurture, nurture and be a nurturing and encouraging force in the church and a good example of God's way of life.

Just like children look at their parents and see what example they would follow. We are an example to each other. Verse 3 says, take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. Let's stop right there. Because you know, when we're rebuked, and all of us have been rebuked in our lives, right? There's been a boss somewhere, certainly our parents, who have rebuked us. I say this with tug and cheek, but we kind of expect that. But when a boss rebukes us, kind of stings a little bit, or someone else rebukes us. You know, we learn a lot about ourselves when we're rebuked. We learn a lot about each other when we have to rebuke someone.

God learned a lot about Saul. If you're following along in the Bible reading program, when he was rebuked. Remember Saul? When he was told, you wait for Samuel to come, and in seven days I'll be there, and I'll offer the sacrifices. And Samuel, or Saul, didn't want to wait. He waited seven days. Samuel wasn't there. He took matters into his own hands. He offered the sacrifice. Samuel came and said, What have you done, Saul? You disregarded what God said. Saul was the lowest use. I waited the prescribed time. You didn't come, so I did it. There was no repentance in Saul. It's your fault, Samuel. You didn't show up when you said you would, so I just did it on my own.

When God told Saul, utterly destroy the Amalekites. Every single man, woman, and child, every single thing, get rid of it all. Utterly destroy them from the face of the earth. Saul didn't do that. He preserved Agag. He's reserved the cattle. He preserved some of the things. When Samuel came and said, Saul, what have you done? You disregarded. He goes, I have obeyed God. Look at this. The people wanted to keep the cattle to sacrifice the God. He didn't obey God. He was full of excuses. He didn't pay attention to the detail of what God had told them to do.

And yet, in his mind, I did it. I did most of it. 99% of them are gone, right? Isn't that good enough? Not good enough, where God's concerned. A profitable servant learns what to do, learns the detail, and maybe rebuked if somewhere along the line you haven't done the detail, and you go back and you build it into your life. David, on the other hand, was a man after God's own heart. He waited and waited, had opportunities to kill Saul. People convincing him, this is God's God telling you, go ahead and take his life. You can ascend the throne. No, I won't. I won't lift my hand against the anointed. I will wait for God to do it. And he waited a long time, but God finally did it. When David was confronted by Nathan after the sin with Bathsheba, he didn't make excuses and blame her. She shouldn't have been out bathing on that roof where I could see her. He immediately, he immediately repented. He immediately saw in himself the sin in the air of his way, and he turned to God.

When they were bringing the ark, remember the story with Uzzah. They were bringing the ark. David just wanted to bring it down to build a house for God to house that ark. And Uzzah reached out and touched that ark, and he was killed because the detail of the Bible says, don't touch that ark. Remember it said David was angry with God. Why did you kill Uzzah? But you know, David was frustrated. David went back. That ark stayed there for several months. David went back and he found out what is causing this? What did I not do? Because God should be blessing this event of bringing the ark back here. He went back and he searched the word, and he found the detail, and he obeyed it. And when he obeyed it to the letter, that ark arrived safely where David wanted it to be.

How about us? When the same thing happens to us over and over and over again, do we go back to the detail and say, God, what detail am I missing? What faith don't I have? What am I missing? I've got to go back and search the Scriptures and get my life in line with what he says. That's what a profitable servant is. Saul wasn't a profitable servant. God gave him his Holy Spirit. He took it away when Saul over and over and over again disregarded what God had to say. But he gave David the Holy Spirit, and he said, He is a man after our own heart.

So sometimes when we're rebuked, we can see how do we handle it? When Peter was rebuked by Christ, when Peter was saying when Christ was saying he was going to be killed in three days, Peter said, no, not you, Lord, nothing like that. Christ said, get behind me, Satan. I know what God's will is.

That would be kind of a rebuke, right? Peter could have said, well, who is this guy to say this to me? Why would I? All I was trying to do was say, no, no, no, that's not going to happen to you. We know what Peter's sentiment was. Did he run away? Did he decide he's going someplace else and follow a different Messiah? This must not be the Messiah because look what he did. He said something to me I didn't want to hear. No, Peter stuck right with him. Peter may not have understood at that time, but he said, I know this is the Son of God, and he accepted it. Likewise, we, when we're rebuked, it may smart. No chastening is present or pleasant for the present, it says in Hebrews 12, but we take it and we look at ourselves and we make the changes that God wants us to do. We go back and see where we're at fault and we don't justify and we don't defend ourselves. You know, when Jesus Christ returns to earth, he's not going to sit there and entertain us as we defend ourselves and say, but I did that because this! Isn't that okay, Christ? It's not going to be any of this give and take. Here's my commandments. Here's what the baseline is to do. I expected you to obey and grow, produce fruit. Did you or didn't you? Here's the five talents I gave you. How did it increase? Or if you didn't even do the baseline, if you didn't even obey, then why would you think that you would be, receive eternal life? Even the young rich man knew that he had to at least keep the commandments and add to that. Well, I get off here, but I get off the subject a little bit, but sometimes we learn about ourselves and rebuking. How do we do that? How do we handle that? Going on in verse 3, it says, if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. And so forgiveness has to be there. There's not going to be any walls in the kingdom. God's not going to have a group of people over here or a person over here who says, you know what, I'm just simply not going to work with that person. I don't want to talk to him. I don't want him on my team. I don't want anything to do with him. It's not going to happen. If we think that that is part of what God will do, we're fooling ourselves, wasting our time.

No walls, forgiveness, unity, oneness. Just as Christ said, just as he and God the Father are one, that's what He expects us to be. Forgive. Sometimes it's hard to forgive, but forgive, we must. A profitable servant forgives. It goes on. When the disciples heard this, they said, Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. Let's go to Titus 3. Let's see where we want to start here. Let's start in verse 4 of Titus 3, because I'm going to talk a little bit about works. There's always someone who says, we can't turn salvation by works. You're absolutely right. We don't earn our salvation. Salvation in eternal life is a free gift that God gives us, but He does expect us to have works to go along with it. Let's start with verse 4. When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward men appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now, verse 8, this is the faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. God wants us to be doing things, doing good works. Not enough to just say we have faith. James 2 tells us, don't just tell me you have faith, show me your faith by your works.

Don't just say the words, let it be demonstrated in your life. Let's go back to 1 John.

1 John 3.

Here's John 3.

Verse 11.

John, the Apostle, John says, this is the message that you have heard from the beginning. It's the same thing we were taught. It's the same thing we've been saying from day one, that we should love that's the Greek word agape, that we should agape one another. We've talked about agape, what it means. Jesus Christ was the perfect example of agape. He gave His life for all of us. That we should love one another. Verse 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love, we agape, the brethren. We love them just as Jesus Christ loved us, a fruit of the Spirit, the first one. We could go through each one of the others and talk about the same thing. We know that we pass from death to death because we agape the brethren. He, who does not love His brother, abides in death. Simple, straight words.

Verse 16. By this we know love, agape, because He laid down His life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. If God called us to do that, would we be willing to do that? Is that a fruit of the Spirit, a profitable servant, would be growing in that area? None of us may be there today, but we would be growing in that area. That is a time chain. We would be willing to do that.

Verse 17. Here's something that applies to all of us. Whoever had this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? If we get to know each other, and that means we get to know each other, and we take the opportunity to get to know each other, by fellowshiping, by that coinonea. We fellowship with God, we fellowship with each other, the Spirit binds us together. If we see a need, and we just ignore it, say, you know what? They can deal with it. How is that the love of God? John asks.

A profitable servant would see a need and he would fill it.

An unprofitable servant would shut his mind and walk on. Verse 18. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Let's do the things we were called to do. It's not hearers of the word that are justified, James says. It's the doers of the law, the works that God looks for us to have. You know, when Jesus Christ said what the identifying sign of his church would be, he didn't say, you'll know my disciples because they will keep all the commandments. Now, that is one of the first fruits, one of the signs of the first fruits in Revelation 14 verse 4. Remember, it says, these are the first fruits. They keep the commandments of God and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. They do both. Jesus Christ said, this is how you'll know my disciples. They will have love one for another. When people come into their body, they will see how they respond to each other. They will see something different than they see in other bodies. They will know each other. They will love each other. They will encourage each other. They will be interested in each other's well-being. They will exhort each other. They will even correct each other in love, as we'll see in a minute.

This is how you'll know my disciples if they have love one for another. Oh, they'll obey the commandments of God, but they'll also display this. They will also have the testimony of Jesus Christ and they will love each other as they love themselves. Matthew 25.

Matthew 25. The other part of the chapter that we read about the talents and the people who showed a prophet to what God had visited in them and the one who showed no prophet. On verse 32, we find Christ continuing. Then he talks about the sheep and the goats. He says, All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He'll set the sheep on His right hand and the goats on the left, and the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.

I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. The fruits of the Spirit, a profitable servant, one who sees the needs of his brother and attends to them, just like Jesus Christ attends to our needs, a church, a group, a body that God puts us in, that loves each other, that watches out for each other, that sees the need and fills it.

Then the righteous, verse 37, will come to Him saying, or answer Him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty, and you gave me drink, and we gave you drink. When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the King answers and says to them, Assuredly I say to you, and as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.

And then of the people who didn't do that, to the people on the left side, He will say to those on the left, apart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you didn't take me in, naked and you didn't clothe me, sick and in prison, and you didn't even visit me. And they said, When did these see you in these situations? Christ, He said, When you didn't do it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you didn't do it to me. I expected more. I expected a profitable servant. I expected someone who wasn't just doing the baseline, faithfully doing the baseline, absolutely prior, but also someone who was rising above and learning where God would have us do. Galatians 6.

Galatians 6, verse 1. Now, here's an act of love that is sometimes difficult to do, both along with Matthew 18, because again, we're here and we want each other to be in the kingdom. And if there's something in there that we know would keep someone from the kingdom, because let's not fool ourselves, none of us get passes. God is looking to perfect us. And sometimes it's difficult to see ourselves or to bring something to someone else and say, What you're doing is not of God. Brethren, verse 1, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a woman in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Now, that could be any number of things. It could be a sin that you know someone is doing. It could be someone going off into a spiritual other thing where they have a false belief that seems to have just attached to their mind that they won't let go of.

And you know we've had that happen from time to time. And people don't want to address it, and people don't want to say, No, that's wrong and whatever. We kind of hope that God will work these things out with the person ourselves. But you know we have to address those things. We have to be firm in the word ourselves so that if someone starts talking to us about some subject that we know isn't biblical, that we can answer back in kind, and that we won't let ourselves be tempted and all of a sudden find ourselves believing what they do. We have to be grounded in the truth, but we must, if we love our brother, we must correct. We must let them know if we see a sin in some area if we truly are people who are producing the fruit of love, then we will address it, and we will address it and let God lead that person back to where He wants them to be. Verse 2, Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Isn't that an interesting verse? Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Obey the law of God. Fulfill the law of Christ. Love your brother as yourself. Love God above all else.

Produce the fruits of the Spirit and let those fruits of the Spirit be evident in your life and to each other.

1 Corinthians 13 The Love Chapter, if you will. The Agape Chapter, we might call it.

Paul always taught obedience to the commandments. It's a foundation, the foundation of who we are, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. He builds His temple with those things that we add to it.

Verse 1, 1 Corinthians 13, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I don't have love, I become sounding brass or a clinging symbol.

And though I have to give to prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith that I could even remove those mountains, if I don't have love, I'm nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, if I don't have agape, it profits me nothing.

Pretty clear what God wants to see in us. Pretty clear what God wants us to develop, who He wants us to become, how we become profitable servants. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faith, self-control. All those fruits of the Spirit binding together in unity, becoming one body, encouraging each other, maybe even rebuking each other, but checking ourselves when we get rebuked to go back. When things don't go right in our life, we don't blame God, we don't blame each other. We go back and see what God wants us to do. We have faith in Him, and we ask Him continually. Increase our faith, increase our love, increase the way we do, fill us more with your Holy Spirit, let us become profitable servants, year after year after year until the day we die. Weeding out the sin, weeding out the faults, weeding out the wrong attitudes, building the blocks of the temple individually and collectively that He has called us to become. 1 Peter 5 You see the progression that Peter shows here in our lives. Just like the elementary principles that we read about in the Hebrews 6, we build on these things, we produce fruit, we grow more and more in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ to become who He wants us to become. Verse 5 For this very reason, giving all diligence, whatever your hand finds to do, including your faith to God, do it with your might, do it for your employer, do it for your family, do it for God, in diligence. Giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, to virtue, knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. 2 Agape Keep adding those things. Keep growing. Keep becoming a profitable servant. For he who lacks these things, I'm sorry, verse 8, for if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May we all seek and live our lives to become profitable servants.