Servants Of The Kingdom

But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, "Come immediately and sit down to eat"? But will he not say to him, "Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk;and afterward you will eat and drink"? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? --Luke 17:7-9

The servant in the first century was a genuine slave-a person who had lost everything in this world. His liberty, his freedom, his will, even his name was gone. When Jesus told His little story about a master inviting his slave to eat first, the disciples laughed. The slave had to serve the master first-always. Jesus then concluded, "So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, "We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done'"(Luke 17:10). We may not like to hear it, but it is true: We are the slaves of Jesus Christ. We were bought by the Lord. We've heard so often that Jesus died for our sins. That's only part of the story. The reason He died and was resurrected, says Paul, was to be the Lord of all us slaves. He explains it very wonderfully in 2 Corinthians 5:15 - "He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." Jesus brought the solution. His death on the cross and His resurrection really means this: Any slave who looks to the cross in faith is allowed to count that death as his own death. He dies: Satan loses him.
(From the book "Disciple" by Juan Carlos Ortiz)