Christian: Servant

	The Christian is a prophet.  This does not require supernatural powers.  It simply means that he or she must speak the word of God.  The Christian is an evangelist, one who spreads the Gospel.  The Christian is a preacher, a proclaimer, a herald. The Christian is a priest.  The Christian offers spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  The Christian is a minister and a steward.  The Christian is also a servant.
	As was the case with the other Christian characteristics, this English word is used to translate various ones from the Greek language.  Sometimes it refers to a slave.
	"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them," Jesus comments in Matthew 20:25-28, "and {their} great men exercise authority over them.  It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
	The Christian is a slave.  This passage notes that, as always, Jesus has not required of His followers anything which He is not willing to do.  So the Christian becomes a slave only through a willingness to follow Christ's example.
	"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus," Paul instructs in Philippians 2:5-7, "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-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men."
	The Christian is a slave through the example of Jesus.  The word, "servant," sometimes refers to a "domestic" or a "house servant."  This is the word which Jesus uses in Luke 16:13.
	"No servant can serve two masters," Jesus points out; "for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
	Being a house servant requires two things.  We must be in the house.  And we must behave in the way the master expects.
	"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens," Paul writes in Ephesians 2:19, "but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household."
	Christians are in God's household.  But does it matter how they act?  How long will a master tolerate a servant who refuses to behave in a proper manner?
	"I am writing these things to you," we read in 1 Timothy 3:14-15, "hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, {I write} so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth."
	"So then, while we have opportunity," Paul encourages in Galatians 6:10, "let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith."
	The Christian is a domestic, a house servant.  But this is a claim which may be made only by those who are truly in the household and who act like it.
	"Servant" sometimes refers to a hired servant or hireling.
	"How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread," the prodigal son realizes in Luke 15:17-19, "but I am dying here with hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."
	Obviously, a person who is a hired servant is one who has been bought with a price.  So, what about the Christian?
	"For you have been bought with a price," Paul states in 1 Corinthians 6:20: "therefore glorify God in your body."
	What is the price which has been paid for the Christian hireling?
	"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers," Paul tells the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28, "to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
	The Christian servant is a slave, but only by following Christ's example.  The Christian servant is a house servant, but only if he or she is truly in the household and acts like it.  The Christian servant is a hireling, but only after being purchased by the blood of Christ.

	The Christian is a servant.  This means that the Christian is a slave, a house servant, a hireling.  But what does the Bible have in mind when it instructs the Christian to serve?
	Unquestionably, the Christian is to serve God.
	"Begone, Satan!" Jesus says to the devil in Matthew 4:10.  "For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"
	"For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you," Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 1:9, "and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God."
	The Christian serves God.  There is a myth, though, that is accepted by many.  They believe that, if they choose to not serve God, then they are free.  In fact, they don't like the idea of being enslaved.  The fact is, we are all slaves.  The Christian simply chooses to be enslaved to God.  All others are enslaved to sin.
	"Truly, truly, I say to you," Jesus teaches in John 8:34, "everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."
	"Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone {as} slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" Paul explains in Romans 6:16-20. "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.  I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members {as} slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in {further} lawlessness, so now present your members {as} slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness."
	The Christian serves God.  The Christian serves righteousness.  The Christian also serves other Christians.
	"For you were called to freedom, brethren; only {do} not {turn} your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh," we find in Galatians 5:13, "but through love serve one another."
	"And do not get drunk with wine," Paul commands in Ephesians 5:18-21, "for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ."
	The Christian serves God.  The Christian serves righteousness.  The Christian serves other Christians.  And the Christian serves all, including sinners.
	"For though I am free from all {men,}" Paul comments in 1 Corinthians 9:19, "I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more."
	The Christian servant is a slave, a domestic, a hireling. The Christian serves God, righteousness, other Christians and all, including sinners.
	"Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed?" Paul wonders in Romans 6:21-22. "For the outcome of those things is death.  But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life."
	We are all servants of sin or righteousness.  The Christian simply chooses to serve the truth in order to be set free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."