“ When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. ”
There is a throne in every human heart upon which sits your Master. There are only two masters who may have that seat, and to whom you become the servant. A servant of sin or a servant of God: it's going to be one or the other. We freedom-loving Americans don't do well with the idea of service, of masters and slaves. We rebel at the thought that anyone other than the almighty self may have rulership over our souls. But even the Founders of our Nation bowed the knee to the King of the universe, and in His Church they relinquished their personal sovereignty to His.
Our biblical translation “servants of sin” and “servants of God” doesn't convey the true essence of that original word. This servant was a slave , totally responsible to and dependent upon another person. Slavery is rightly considered barbaric today. But in the world of 2,000 years ago, slavery was generally accepted and quite prevalent. The economies of the ancient empires were built on it. When St. Paul wrote his Epistle to Rome, one out of three persons in Italy were slaves. Slaves could be domestic and civil servants, farm laborers, temple slaves and craftsmen. Some were forced to be gladiators; others became highly responsible and well placed servants and even public officials.
A slave has no rights that pertain to himself alone. Rights may be granted by his master. A wise master treated his slaves humanely, and even loved his slaves. The Bible made slavery legal, but temporary, for Israelites. In Israel, a person indebted to another who could not pay became the other's slave. But this slavery could only last 6 years. In the seventh year, the master had to let his slaves go free and reward them with a part of the flock and a portion of the harvest. Many slaves had nowhere to go when set free and chose thereafter to remain with their masters. In this case, an earring was put in the slave's ear showing that he was a willing slave . “Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. 15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee.” Deuteronomy 15:12-18
Many slaves were better off than the free but poor . House slaves were considered part of the family and might even marry into the family. A person could become a slave as a result of capture in war, by default on a debt, by inability to support oneself and “voluntarily” selling oneself, by being sold as a child by destitute parents, by birth to slave parents, through conviction of a crime, or kidnapping and piracy. Slavery cut across all races and nationalities.
Nevertheless, in most ancient societies, few things were more despicable than to be a slave. In Israel, however, the idea emerged that it was a great privilege to be a servant or slave of God. Many of the heroes of the Old Testament are called “the slave of God.” Isaiah uses the term frequently to describe both Israel and the coming Messiah. Jesus came in the role of a servant or slave and He instructed His disciples to do so as well. The Epistle writers all described themselves as slaves : “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God…” Romans 1:1 ; “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting,” James 1:1 “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:1 .
So if we redefine slavery or servanthood here as being a complete devotion to and obedience, a giving of oneself as the free offering to something or someone else who is worthy of this honor: it is more acceptable, even for us Americans, to think of being the slave of God, or slaves to righteousness, as Paul instructed the Roman church. If Jesus could use this term freely of Himself and His followers, then it doesn't mean what it came to mean in Uncle Tom's Cabin and the early American South.
Jesus instructed His apostles: “Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45 Using Himself as example, He turned the world upside down. The lowliness of a slave was now to be the mark of a saint. The greatest of them all was to share the least place with the lowest servant of a household. In this mold, Jesus took time after His Last Supper to strip down, take a basin of water, and wash His apostles' feet, shocking them by this act of supreme servitude, the act only done by a very low and ill-regarded slave. Seeing their faces, He then taught them: “Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. ” John 13:12-16
We are therefore all to be slaves. We are made that way. There is that throne within us, a place of honor and we will put someone there. It's inevitable. Who will it be?
St. Paul wrote the Philippians: “Let this same attitude and purpose and humble mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a slave, in that He became like men and was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, That in the name of Jesus every knee must bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11
We are people; therefore we are slaves or servants. It is our nature. Who sits on the throne of our hearts? Jesus said: “Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin.” John 8:34 In today's Epistle, Paul simply states that we were formerly slaves of sin, but now have given ourselves in voluntary slavery to God, serving righteousness and becoming holy. It has to be one or the other. When we were slaves of sin, we weren't slaves of God or truth or holiness then, either. Therefore, as servants of God and goodness, let's not serve sin anymore. The benefit of our former slavery was nothing, our payment was death. Fine master sin is! With God as our master, we present our bodies as living sacrifices and become no longer slaves, but sons and daughters of God and inheritors of eternal life.
Imagine the power of those words in the 1 st Century. The life of a slave was freely observed by all. To be raised from slave to son was a rare and astonishing change of fortune. But this is what our God is offering you today: stop being a slave of sin, serve God and become His son, daughter, bride.
Service at its best is worship. Our form of worship takes a little more from the temple and its attendant slaves than more contemporary kinds of church service, where the audience joins in singing, but then sits through most of the rest. We genuflect in clear sign of our slavery to Him whose Body and Blood are enshrined upon that altar. It means no less than slavery—a benign and beneficial slavery to the only King worthy of the title. We kneel in prayer to Him who sits upon the throne as a discipline for our bodies to show obeisance to our Lord and Master. We stand at the Creed and the reading of His Gospel, for who can sit when Jesus comes in the room or is declared God of God, Light of Light? He feeds us with His very flesh, as He fed 5,000 on a hillside.
Is there any other who is more worthy than He to be your master? Yourself? Can you truly consider yourself as master of your life? How well have you done with that up to now? When we claim our own throne, we sin in the very act. Sin gives way to Satan, and death is the result, eternal death and darkness. But “ the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Is there any question who should rule your heart and mind? Is there any other you might seek out and enthrone there to your greater benefit?
PFH+