"We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'"
In a Creator-creature sense, God, as our Creator, is our Master, and we, His creatures, are His servants. It is our duty to obey and serve Him. His commands are just, right and good. Even our own consciences approve of it. We ought to do what is just, right and good. It is our responsibility. No one thanks a person for doing what he ought to do. We don't get brownie points doing it.
The doing of God's commands and serving Him are our duty. It is our responsibility. We don't get salvation points from God doing it. We don't cause Him to be indebted to us in the exercise of what we ought to do. We don't ingratiate ourselves to God doing our duty.
Many people believe that salvation is God's "Thank You!" to sinners who serve Him and do their duty. Not so. Salvation is God's undeserved favor, offered to those who don't deserve it, to be received freely by faith in the Savior and what He did on the cross.
Lu 17:7 "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'?
8 "But will he not rather 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'?
9 "Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.
10 "So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'"
