<p>25:30&nbsp;<em>And cast out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There, shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth</em>- Unless we are going to actually achieve something for the Lord, then we are unprofitable. But of course the same words for &ldquo;unprofitable servant&rdquo; are found in Lk. 17:10- after we have &ldquo;done all&rdquo; that we could, we are to recognize that we are still in this category of &ldquo;unprofitable servant&rdquo;. Salvation itself is still by grace. The story of the slave who worked all day in the field and was then expected to come home and cook for his master without a word of thanks to him seems to be more realistic, lacking the element of unreality usually seen in the parables. But the Greek word &quot;<em>charis</em>&quot;, usually translated &quot;grace&quot;, is the one used for &quot;thank&quot; there (Lk. 17:9). The point is that we don't receive grace because of our going the extra mile, as we are inclined to think. We receive grace, but not as a result of all our special efforts; these are what are expected of us, on account of the fact that we have become salves to our Master, the Lord Jesus. At the end of all our special efforts (in whatever sphere), we must consciously make an effort to recognize that we are &quot;unprofitable servants&quot; (Lk. 17:10). This must surely connect with Mt. 25:30, which describes the rejected at the day of judgment as unprofitable servants. If we judge / condemn ourselves, we will not be condemned (1 Cor. 11:31). This is just one of many examples of where the Lord's parables seem intended to be linked with each other- which further proves that they are not stories with a deeper meaning, whose storyline is not intended to be carefully considered. We must recognize not only that we are unprofitable servants, but that we have only done what was our &quot;duty&quot; or debt to do- the implication being that we were sold into slavery on account of an unpayable debt. This is exactly the figure used by the Lord to describe us in Mt. 18:25. &nbsp;</p>