Therein lies the rub. I am beginning to comprehend the hard truth that has always been there, in scripture, that there is only one way to experience true freedom, and that is through voluntary slavery to Christ and his righteousness. (I had comforted myself with milder translations - servanthood sounded both noble and do-able. Slavery, not so much.)
The following is longer than my usual posts ... for it is my ponderings on the call to be a slave ... and what that means to me, personally. There is a lot of scripture here, but the ponderings are incomplete. So, read if you will ... if you really want to. And begin your own journey.
2 Peter
1: 3-11
New International Version (NIV)
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His
divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through
these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by
evil desires.
5 For this
very reason, make every effort to add to
your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge,
self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance,
godliness; 7 and
to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and
unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But
whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they
have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and
election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a
rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter
3:10-18
New International Version (NIV)
But the
day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with
a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything
done in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You
ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its
coming.[b] That day will bring about the
destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.13 But
in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new
earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So
then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in
mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that
God gave him. 16 He
writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His
letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and
unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since
you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away
by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure
position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
How is
it that we are so susceptible to being carried away by the error of
lawlessness? Isn’t it in the same way
that the early Christians were so carried away?
Paul addressed this issue in his letter to the Romans, as he explained
the concept of grace, realizing that “grace” could easily be confused with a
license to do as one pleased.
Romans 6:1-4; 11-18; 22-23
New
International Version (NIV)
Dead to
Sin, Alive in Christ
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase? 2 By no
means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any
longer? 3 Or
don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? 4 We were
therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
…….. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ
Jesus. 12 Therefore
do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of
righteousness. 14 For sin
shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under
grace? By no means! 16 Don’t
you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether
you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to
righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be
slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your
allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.
…. 22 But now that you have been set
free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to
holiness, and the result is eternal life.23 For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Having
been set free from sin – no longer caught up in sinning and controlled by sin –
we are now slaves all over again; but this time we are not slaves to sin but
rather slaves to God’s will and his ways.
Slaves to righteousness. Not too
many people think of the book of Romans as a call to “slavery.” But the words are clear.
The
apostles understood this well, referring to themselves as slaves at the
beginning of their letters. Peter called himself a slave (in the
Greek, doulos, also translated “bond slave” or “bondservant”) of Jesus
Christ in II Peter 1:1. So did Paul
in Romans 1:1 and Titus 1:1, and so
did James in James 1:1, and so did
Jude in Jude verse 1, and so did John in Revelation 1:1. The word is also applied to Moses in Revelation
15:3.
As
slaves of God we serve him as Master, so our service to him is not optional,
but mandatory. Perhaps we are so removed
from the concept of slavery that we don’t recall its meaning. Slaves are bound to do their master’s bidding
and do not have the freedom to do as they please.
Most
believers memorize Rom 6:23, above. But far fewer study 6:22 before it. Perhaps we should all meditate on this for a
day, a week, a year. Yes, eternal life
is a gift, but it is given in the context of our becoming slaves to God and
reaping the benefit of holiness.
Being a
slave to a cruel master, like sin, or like the slave traders of old, provided
very little benefit. But, according to
verse 22, being a slave to God has a great benefit. In
being slaves of God we reap the benefit of holiness. And it is holiness that has the result we are
yearning for: eternal life.
Too many
in the church equate “holiness” with a movement that required its people to
remain under the law – concerned about the outward appearance of dress and
obligations. But in Rom 6:22 we can see
that true holiness is described as a
benefit that we as believers reap, as a result of being slaves to God’s
will. Holiness is further stated to be
the very thing that leads to eternal life.
How,
then, do we live the life that we are called to live? How do we avoid spending ourselves on things
that don’t lead to eternal life –
like vain arguments*? How do we avoid
being enslaved again to sin? The key is
found in understanding what it means to be a slave of God.
*1 Tim
1:6.
Our slavery to God – unlike slavery as we understand it today -is a voluntary one. Being a bond slave of Jesus is the breaking of my
independence, and purposefully surrendering to the lordship of God. No one can do this for me; I must do it
myself.
We talk a lot about servanthood, which is good. But what is the difference between a servant
and a slave? A servant typically gets days off and makes choices, but a slave
is a slave for 365 days a year and makes very few of his own choices. A servant
has his own money he can spend on whatever he wishes. A slave has no money of
his own; if he wants something, he must ask the master for it. A servant can
marry whomever he wants. A slave must marry whomever the master tells him to
marry. A slave has no possessions of his own, no rights, and he is obligated to
do whatever the master commands him to do.
Today we value freedom more highly than just about
anything else. People die for
freedom. In our western concept of
slavery, it is hard to imagine someone volunteering
to become a permanent slave. Yet, that is the Biblical definition of a bond
slave. A bond slave is a volunteer permanent slave. The
passage in Scripture that defines bond slavery is found in Exodus 21:2-6:
…"But if the slave plainly says,
I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,'
then his master shall bring him to God, and then he shall bring him to the door
or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall
serve him permanently...."
A Hebrew was made a slave on a temporary basis, and after
his time was fulfilled, he could go out as a free man. However, if because
of love for his master, the slave said that he did not want to go
free, then his master would take him to God for a spiritual commitment. They would go to the door or the doorpost
where he would pierce his ear with an awl or, in other words, with a large hole
- one that would never grow back. That slave would then serve him permanently. He
is then a bond slave. From that moment on, he would have no time of
his own, no rights of his own, no money of his own, and no possessions of his
own. He would have to do whatever the master told him to do.
Even though the cost of being a bond slave is high, there
is a benefit to the slave. His master is
committing to take care of him, to protect him, and to provide for him for the
rest of his life. As we make this commitment to God to be his bond slave, He
makes that commitment to us in return.
The real motivation for making a bond slave commitment
to God is because of our love of the Master, and not because we
want His divine protection (Exodus 21:5). That is simply one of the benefits.
Most strikingly,
we find ourselves being most like Jesus when we are a bond slave, because Jesus,
himself, was a bond slave of God, His Father: "Have this attitude in
yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the
form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond
slave, and being made in the likeness of men" (Philippians
2:5-7).
If we truly want to follow in His steps, then we too
will want to be bond slaves of God. God is doing a divine work today, calling
out those who will be His bond slaves (worshipers in spirit and truth) who are willing to live holy, righteous and
pure before God, and to be obedient to Him.
When the
commitment is made, to become a bond slave, there is giant shift. Everything changes. We see as Christ saw that there is nothing to
do except that which the Father is doing.
(note the shift from “nothing worth doing” to “nothing to do.” A slave has already counted the cost, already
committed to a lifetime of obedience.
The cost and value are of no consequence now. What the Father does and what the Father says
are all that matters.
The next
step in the journey is one that God offers again to all who follow in the path
of obedience. Just as Christ Jesus was
both bond slave and so much more, so we are more than just bond slaves. Having embraced the status of slave, we can
receive the incredible gift the Father has in store for us…. sonship.
Just two
chapters after Romans 6, that we read above, we read in Romans 8 more about
this life of the bond servant which leads to adoption as sons..
Romans 8:5-17 (NIV)
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what
the flesh desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the
Spirit is life and peace. 7 The
mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s
law, nor can it do so.8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the
realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if
Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of
sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised
Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according
to it. 13 For if
you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear
again; rather, the Spirit you received
brought about your adoption to sonship.[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,[g] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our
spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if
we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share
in his glory.
By embracing the life of
bond slave, we find the Father calling us by a new name – we learn that we are
“God’s children.” And rather than only
knowing him “Master and Lord,” we are graced with the right to call him by a
new name: “Abba, Father” – Daddy.
To gain a greater
understanding of who we are as the children of God, I meditate on the book of
First John. In this way, we remind
ourselves that we are truly called to walk as children of God, dearly loved and
cherished, our obedience shifting from obligation (of the bond slave alone) to
obedience born of love (the child who loves his father).
At the same time, however,
we must caution ourselves to not replace one truth with the other. There is a great temptation here. That temptation is to forget who we are in
Romans 6. Those who are walking in right
relationship with the Father, as dearly loved children, will refuse the temptation to forget that
they are also, in the truest sense, still surrendered as bond slaves to Him.
In a society filled with self-willed, rebellious, and
independent children, our concept of “child of God” is just as inaccurate as
our concept of slave.
In 1 John 3, we see what
God means when he calls us His children:
3 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his
children, and that is what we are! ….
7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When
people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is
righteous.8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows
that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But
the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice
of sinning, because God’s life[a] is in them. So they can’t keep
on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are
children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live
righteously and does not love other believers[b] does not belong to God.
11 This is
the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. …
14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters,[d] it proves that we have passed
from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.15 Anyone
who hates another brother or sister[e] is really a murderer at heart.
And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.
16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.
So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or
sister[f] in need but shows no
compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
The Bible clearly tells
us how to tell whether someone (including ourselves) is a child of God. A child of a typical American family may be
one who is pampered and spoiled and who
whines and cries and demands his own way.
But a child of God is the opposite of that. According to 1 John 3:10, a child of God is
one who loves others (not just in word, but in deed) and lives righteously
(does what is right and pleasing to God, the Father).
Lord, help us. We live in a culture that is so opposite of
your Kingdom culture, that is often difficult to understand the simplicity of
your Word. We have heard so many
misinterpretations, and so many people making excuses for us, that we are
lulled into a sense of complacency.
Your word tells us that
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and we have replaced that with
our own “wisdom” that says we have nothing at all to fear except fear itself.
Open our eyes to the
truth of your Word. May we see you as
such an amazingly perfect God and trustworthy master that our only logical
response is to cry out to be your bond slave forever.
Lord, help me to
understand more thoroughly what that means, so that I may walk fully alive in
You.
I have fallen into the
typical trap of thinking that others who are great in your kingdom have a
special call, a special gift. Remind me
that we all have the same call to be your slaves. Of course, once we say yes, we are yours, to
do your bidding, whether that be to work in the field or the kitchen or the
nursery. But all those who say “yes” are
rewarded with the prize of being yours … and the gift of eternal blessing in
you.
Teach me, Lord, how to
say “yes,” both today and tomorrow, and show me the necessity of saying “yes”
every single day of my life. From dawn
to dawn again, a bond slave’s duty is to say yes and fulfill the master’s
bidding.
Because
I am now getting the inkling of clarity that being the bond slave is the only
true way to fully embrace Your Kingdom, I am nearly ready to ask this: Make me your bond slave and keep me
close to you in obedience, righteousness, holiness, and love. But perhaps I don't trust you quite enough yet. Please reveal to me your faithful love that opens my heart to yield completely to this reality of being your slave.
And for your body, the church, I pray that you will move us far beyond arguing about semantics and theories, our minds stuck on
controversies, and let us recognize the reality of who you are calling us to be
… those who are fully surrendered to your will as both slaves and sons.
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