“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10)
I ask you to consider something here, the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to those who would live in the Kingdom of the Most High God, not to the lost, but to the saved, and He said to them if they fulfilled those things, they would be unprofitable. I ask that you see three things here, there are born-again believers alive today who are unprofitable to the Kingdom of heaven, there are in heaven those who were unprofitable here while they yet lived, and thirdly, the easiest one to recognize, we have a choice to make in this life, to be profitable or unprofitable, and that conscience choice, that effort can only be made by the resolve of our free will.
I speak here as a man, from the experience of life, yet I say this as a truth, unprofitable people are of little value in any area, they serve little purpose. An employer hires an individual for only two reasons, to make them money or to save them money, they are not hiring you to be their friend, to go to sporting events or to make sure they have someone to share their lunch with. Make me money or save me money, or I will find someone else to fill the position.
“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 94:16)
Are you verbally or even physically standing in some way, shape or form against the evil of these days? Then you are profitable in that area, if not, if you only watch what is unfolding, think about it and possibly converse about those events with others you know, then you are unprofitable.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
Is there someone you have been witnessing to lately, do you speak of the Lord Jesus Christ in casual conversations, do you have a burden for the lost and by your actions and words profess the free gift of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to them? Then you are profitable. If you simply believe that that task is for someone else, the pastor, deacons, or elders, if you say you love Him, and truly even do, yet do not seek out the lost, then you are unprofitable. You are saved but of little value to the Kingdom.
These are not my words; this is what the Word of God says.
The Lord loves all His children, but greater blessings are poured out upon those who by their own free will submit fully to His will, who not only say in their heart, “Thy will be done,” but get up and do it. More than what is required, that is what the profitable servant is, he fulfills Proverbs 24:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”
He fails, a lot, but he learns, he is humble, but never humiliated by the reproaches of the lost. He has set his face like a flint, he seeks the face of God for the glory of God, lifting up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everyone who is profitable was once unprofitable, but they determined to know Christ and Him crucified, they determined to not allow the world to dissuade them, they determined to die to self, and do so each day, so that Christ may live through them.
All who are saved are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not all are called to go a little further with Him, and only those who are willing to do so are called.
Everyone in the hall of faith of Hebrews 11 was profitable, “(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Heb. 11:38) I leave you with this, the choice is yours, you will be eternally loved forever no matter which you choose, but on the day that we cast our crowns back at the feet of the Savior, the unprofitable will have nothing to offer Him.
