 About a week ago, we considered the mission of the church during our ABF hour. Time didn’t allow me to conclude the way that I had hoped, so I’ll do so here.
The New Testament authors all humbly and gratefully identified themselves as “slaves of God.” • Titus 1:1 – “Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ” (cf. Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1). • James 1:1 – “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” • 2 Peter 1:1 – “Simon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Of this humbling, yet honorable term, William Barclay writes: (i) To call the Christian the doulos [slave] of God means that he is inalienably possessed by God. In the ancient world a master possessed his slaves in the same sense as he possessed his tools. A servant can change his master; but a slave cannot. The Christian inalienably belongs to God. (ii) To call the Christian the doulos of God means that he is unqualifiedly at the disposal of God. In the ancient world the master could do what he liked with his slave. He had the same power over his slave as he had over his inanimate possessions. He had the power of life and death over his slave. The Christian belongs to God, for God to send him where He will, and to do with him what He will. The Christian is the man who has no rights of his own, for all his rights are surrendered to God. (iii) To call the Christian the doulos of God means that the Christian owes an unquestioning obedience to God. Ancient law was such that a master’s command was a slave’s only law. Even if a slave was told to do something which actually broke the law, he could not protest, for, as far as he was concerned, his master’s command was the law. In any situation the Christian has but one question to ask: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” The command of God is his only law. (iv) To call the Christian the doulos of God means that he must be constantly in the service of God. In the ancient world the slave had literally no time of his own, no holidays, no time off, no working-hours settled by agreement, no leisure. All his time belonged to the master.” (The Letters of James and Peter, rev. ed. [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976], 293; emphasis in the original). By way of application, we had considered the following in our series together through Titus: Paul was always driven by the reality of who he had become in Christ. His understanding of the grace of God (I Corinthians 3:10; 15:10; Ephesians 3:7) and of his own unworthiness (I Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:8; I Timothy 1:15) helped him easily claim the responsibility of “commissioned slavery.” How much of a bearing on your daily mindset and pursuits does your position have? What drives your work ethic? What motivates you in the business and ugliness of the work place? What compels your relationships with people? What influences the way you plan for tomorrow and dream about the future? What summarizes your goals for this year? Does the awareness that you are God’s slave and Christ’s ambassador influence your thinking and regulate your interactions and plans? O church, you’re on a mission as a “slave of God”! Fulfill your calling until the rest that awaits. Comments are closed.
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