There is a more subtle kind of entitlement that shows up among those of us who work very hard for the Lord. It usually has none of the ugly outward characteristics that I spoke of in the last message. In fact, it has an apparent reasonableness about it. When it appears, it typically has the approval of others. When it makes its claim that something is owed to it because it deserves it or has it coming, its claim is reasonable because it has earned the appreciation of others. Its behavior is exemplary and praiseworthy among the brethren.

Introduction

On her website, Joan Lloyd at Work, management consultant Joan Lloyd received the following question from a frustrated supervisor. See if it sounds like something you’ve encountered.

No, my sermon this morning has nothing to do with management consulting, so please stay awake. But as I read this sincere question posed by someone in a difficult spot, I was reminded again of just how pervasive the entitlement attitude is.

That’s what we’re addressing again this morning - this issue of the entitlement attitude. I talked about it Sunday before last and will again this morning. In its most extreme forms (like this manager’s employee problem) the entitlement attitude is the view that says, "You owe me," "I have it coming," "I’m entitled," and "You’d better not refuse to give me what I want or I’ll make life miserable for you."

Of course we can’t do much directly about the entitlement attitude in the world, but we can and should be concerned about it in the church. Even Christians and those seeking Christ can sometimes have this attitude.

The entitlement attitude is what was behind Jesus’ words to his apostles in Luke 17:7-10. It was our text two Sundays ago and will be again today. Let’s read it.

There is not a single inch of room for the entitlement attitude in Jesus’ words here. "…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.’"

In the last message I shared three important truths from this passage that pertain to the entitlement attitude. Understanding these can help us avoid it and its pitfalls.

First, God is the Master, we are the servants. Until a Christian gets that order straight, the entitlement attitude will reign supreme along with all of the trouble it brings with it.

Second, God is no one’s debtor. No matter how hard we work at faithfulness, God will never owe us anything. We cannot manipulate God into a position where He is obligated to us.

Third, everything good that we have is a gift from God. Thus, when we speak of the things that we have, we’re talking about blessings, not entitlements. In no way do our special gifts entitle us to special treatment or special privilege.

I described in last week’s message what we might call "the seamier side of entitlement." I spoke of spoiled children and the "terrible twos," self-centered teenagers and selfish people to whom concern for others is a foreign language. Probably most of us tend to think of this darker side of the entitlement attitude as it applies to others rather than ourselves. I certainly don’t consider myself to be a spoiled brat or a person who is uninterested in the well being of others. In fact, I work pretty hard on behalf of the needs of others. So do some of you - and I appreciate it. Your service is commendable – and if you’ll forgive my saying so, most of the time, so is mine. So don’t come at me with charges of an entitlement attitude because as hard as I work, I’m entitled to better treatment than that!

Oops! As hard as I work, I’m entitled…? What did I just say?

There is this more subtle kind of entitlement that shows up among those of us who work very hard for the Lord. It usually has none of the ugly outward characteristics that I spoke of in the last message. Rather, it’s stealthy. It sneaks around in the dark recesses of our minds so that even we ourselves may not realize its there. In fact, it has an apparent reasonableness about it. When it appears, it typically has the approval of others. When it makes its claim that something is owed to it because it deserves it or has it coming, its claim is reasonable because it has earned the appreciation of others. Its behavior is exemplary and praiseworthy among the brethren.

In scripture I think of Martha, the sister of Mary and brother of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus. She was a hard working lady and her hard work was commendable and even necessary, but the entitlement attitude that surfaced in her was lovingly rebuked by Jesus.(2)

I think of those workers in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard who had "borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day."(3) But when the end of the day came and they received the same pay as the ones who had worked only one hour, they were incensed. They thought they were entitled to more.

Then there is our text here. Who was Jesus speaking to when He uttered the words of our text? Was He speaking to a group of lazy, spoiled, self-centered rebels who served only themselves? No. He was speaking to the twelve. He was speaking to His best men – the ones who had already left everything to follow him!(4) If anyone should have built up some merit points for special entitlement treatment, it should have been them. Yet it was to them that He said, "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.’"

Martha, the hard working "early hires" in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard, and these hard working and self sacrificing apostles were not unlike those of us today who work long and hard for God – those who spend long hours at the church building or on the mission field or in difficult works tending to the needs of others. Such people, though they have not done everything that could be done, have certainly done much more than most others. Jesus warns such people about the entitlement attitude.

Those who have worked hard for the Lord will receive great reward for their service to Christ when the Lord returns. Make no mistake about it.(5) But here’s the point and please don’t miss it: the rewards come later. For now, even the most faithful and hard working ones among us must be careful not to slip into the feeling that our service earns us special treatment from God and others in the here and now. Even when we work hard, God is still the Master and we are still the servants even if we are faithful servants. We must not forget that we are still saved by His grace and not by our works.(6) It is still true that if suddenly things reverted to a system of merit, which is what all feelings of entitlement are based on, our sins would cancel out all the good things we do for Him.

Let me address two specific areas where this more subtle appearance of the entitlement attitude can trip up God’s most faithful workers. Remember, even after we have done everything required of us (and far more than most others), according to our text, God is still the Master and we are still the "unworthy slaves." Therefore (and I’ll put each of these in the first person as though it applies to me, hoping that you will do the same as it applies to you):

I like things to be fair, don’t you? Fair and balanced. Everyone gets the same treatment. That’s the way it ought to be. But is life that way? We’ve all heard the saying, "life isn’t fair." Probably some of us know that only too well. Some fall into the septic tank and come out smelling like roses while others drown in it before they can get out.

Well then, even if life isn’t fair, surely God is fair, right? Yes, God is fair. He is fair in everything except in how He deals with us. With us He isn’t fair.

"What’s that?" you say. "God isn’t fair with us?"

No, He isn’t. In our case He is more than fair, and we ought to be thankful for that, because if God were fair, we’d all be headed for hell. God is more than fair because, as the Psalmist said in Psalm 103:10: "He has not dealt with us according to our sins…." If God were to deal with us fairly, my friends, since the penalty for sin is death, we’d all be dead.

If I received from God the forgiveness of my sins and from that point onward my life was miserable beyond all imagination, it would still be true that He had been more than fair with me. Why? Because with forgiveness of sins comes eternal life – something that I would have no chance to ever obtain on my own. So, even in the most difficult circumstances of life, the Christian can always be thankful to God and he or she need not feel cheated or envious of others who may seem to have it easier because God has a different plan for their lives.

That’s where the rub comes, though. Even though God has been more than fair with all of us, we still sometimes expect things to be equitable among us. If for some reason I have to suffer, that’s fine, provided that it is no more than anyone else in the faith has to suffer. I’m willing to do my fair share – with emphasis on "fair."

Jesus reassured Peter that He still had a place of service for him even though prior to the crucifixion, the apostle had denied Him three times. In a wonderful display of grace described in John 21, Jesus said to the humiliated Peter three times, "Tend my lambs," "Shepherd my sheep," "Tend my sheep." Then in that moving passage, Jesus said these words to the big fisherman in John 21:18-19:

Jesus told Peter that he would someday die for Him, just as the apostle had once vowed he was willing to do.(7) As Peter took all of this in, suddenly out came a little trickle of the entitlement attitude. In verses 20-21 we read:

20 Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" [That would be John] 21 Peter therefore seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?"

In essence, Peter asked, "All right Jesus. I will suffer and die for you someday. I’m OK with that. But if that is what will happen to me, what kind of suffering will John go through? Surely things will be rough for him too, right?" Look at verse 22:

"It’s none of your business, Peter." That’s what Jesus is saying here. "What is that to you? Your job is to follow Me! If I have a separate and different track planned for John’s life than I have for yours, it’s not your business. Your business is to be faithful on the track I’ve laid out for you."

Think back to our text for this message. A slave in that day didn’t have access to the reasons why the master did what he did. Neither did he get to be a part of the decision making process. Neither could he lodge a grievance with his union supervisor if he didn’t like his master’s plans. He was a slave!

When we become jealous of other Christians or upset at God because things go differently for them than they do for us, it’s nothing more than that old entitlement attitude popping up - the one that says, "I deserve the same kind of treatment as they receive because I’m every bit as good as they are and maybe sometimes I’m even better." It’s that old system of merit again.

But remember, if we got what we truly deserved, we’d be in hell.

My friends, we need to be determined to walk the path God has laid out for us. He has every right to work differently in our lives than He does in the lives of others. We only hamper our ability to carry out His will when we burn up so much energy worrying about whether or not things are fair and balanced. They won’t be! And God is under no obligation to make them "fair." He’s already been more than fair in giving us eternal life at the cost of the death of His son. Rather than be envious of others or upset at their seemingly better treatment, we need to be thankful for what we have.

That is what was behind Paul’s instruction to "rejoice with those who rejoice," in Romans 12:15.

If another Christian gets to drive a new car every year and I’m on my 10^th year with my old jalopy, if another Christian seems always to be in good health and I’m plagued with health problems, I have no right to complain. God has me on a different path. He will bless me uniquely as He sees fit.

God has every right to treat me differently than His other servants. I resolve to be faithful to the things He has laid before me and to quit comparing myself with others.

Secondly, since God is still the Master and we are still the "unworthy slaves" (I’ll say it again in the first person):

Perhaps the clearest example of this is the case of Job. In the first chapter of his journal he writes of the terrible loss he experienced in Satan’s first attack on his integrity. His oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, and his servants, in effect, all of his wealth, was wiped out in a single day. Then as though that were not enough, a tornado hit the house of his oldest son who just happened to be hosting all of his brothers and sisters at a dinner party. None of them survived.

Do you remember Job’s response? Did he scream out to God, "It’s not fair!" No. His response is Job 1:21:

Not a bit of the entitlement attitude there! Job knew his place. He was the servant. God was the Master. As such, God had every right to take back what He had given.

It all revolves around that third point of last week’s message: Everything good that we have is a gift from God.

Yet some fail to understand this at the expense of their souls. How many do you know who have cursed God when He allowed a tragic loss? I tell you there are many who give up on God completely in the event of major loss or bereavement.

As I surfed around on the web, reading what others said about this issue of the entitlement attitude, I came across an article by a Jewish Rabbi - Rabbi Dov Heller. In his article on gratitude, he tells a story that apparently is familiar among Jews. He writes:

Everything good we have is a gift from God. A slave owns nothing. All he possesses is really the possession of his master. As such, his Master can take it back anytime and be fully within his rights.

It is wrong for us to curse God or lose faith in God when we have losses - because it all belongs to Him!

We’re going to stop right there and continue this subject of squashing the entitlement attitude next Lord’s Day. I have a few more applications to make.

For now, I find that there are still some holdout places in my own life where the entitlement attitude exists. I’m ashamed that it hasn’t been sufficiently challenged by me. I know it needs to be. Perhaps you feel the same way.

With the conviction of God’s Spirit and the great grace that I need from God to give me the time and opportunity to do so, I intend to challenge those holdout places and squash what remains of the entitlement attitude in me. I have asked God to help me remember these words of our text whenever I need them most. And I intend to heed them whenever I do remember them. Perhaps you will want to do the same.

God bless you all as He works in your lives to make you more and more like His Son.

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. Union Creating Entitlement Attitude, Joan Lloyd,
http://www.joanlloyd.com/articles/open.asp?art=991.htm
2. Luke 10:41
3. Matthew 20:12
4. Matthew 19:27
5. Matthew 10:40-42
6. Ephesians 2:8-9
7. Mark 14:31
8. http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/Mastering_The_Gratitude_Attitude.asp

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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