Slavery is a touchy subject, so let me start by saying that this verse is not condoning slavery in any way, shape, or form. Paul is simply using something that is common to them as an illustration. And, the truth is that their slavery was not slavery as we know it. In fact, the word used in this verse is the Greek word, δοῦλοςdoûlos, (doo’-los) which means, “bondservant.” Slaves in that day were basically indentured slaves. They owed someone a debt and had to work for that person until it was paid off. Sometimes, once that “slave” was freed, they chose to stay on with the master because he was fair and kind. At this point, the master would put the slave’s earlobe against the door post and drive a stake through it, identifying them as his doulos, or voluntary servant for life. If you look throughout the New Testament you will see where Paul, Peter, James, and Jude identified themselves as a doulos for Jesus Christ. If you’d like to know more about this term, I wrote about it in one of my earlier blogs titled, Doulos.
So, now that we have the whole master/slave thing out of the way, what exactly is Paul saying here? Like I said earlier, Paul is just using something that they can relate with to get a point across. This “slave/master” relationship can carry over to our “employee/employer” relationship. Unless you are self-employed you have, at some point, complained about your employer, and possibly even if you are self-employed. I wish I wrote full time, but I do have a day job, I manage a retirement community. I started with them about 5 years ago. This is a large company with retirement communities all over the United States and Michelle and I started working there a few years after it had been bought by an investment group. For its first 35 years, it was a family run company, but they sold it when the owner needed to retire, himself. For the first two and a half years we worked there, it was run much like the owner ran it. There were 2 management couples per community who lived on site. Then, about two and a half years ago when the government started raising minimum wages, the company had to recoup those costs, so they went to a 3-manager model, fired one fourth of their community managers, moved us all off-site, and gave the workload that had been done by 4 managers, to 3 managers. Then, they fired half of their Regional Directors and gave some of the work they used to do to us General Managers. I’d like to say that I never had a bad thought, or said a bad word about them, but I’m human. Michelle wasn’t fired but was made Office Manager at a huge reduction in pay and, coupled with the costs of living off-site, we lost one-fourth of our income, literally overnight.
So, yes, I have been guilty of talking poorly about my earthly “master”, but the one thing I did right is I made a concerted effort to keep working for them as unto God. Look at Ephesians 6:5, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.” He doesn’t say to obey them if they treat you right, he says to serve them as you would serve Christ. He goes on in verse 6 to say, “Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.” Ouch! So, serve them like you would serve Christ whether they are watching or not. Why? Because Christ is always watching, plus it will show in your work. In today’s world, you not supposed to talk openly about Christ at work, but your boss will know if you are truly living for God and he will be watching. The pastor I grew up under, used to always say that your life may be the only Bible some people ever open. They are watching whether you know it or not.
Verse 7 tells us to, “Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Ask yourself, “do I work enthusiastically?” “Does it look to others like I enjoy my job, or that it’s a chore?” In verse 8 he reminds us, “Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.” We will be rewarded if we don’t falter. We need to stay the course and endure to the end. Remember what Galatians 6:9 says, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Paul only gives one verse to the masters, he says, “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.”Ephesians 6:9. So, for those of us who are Christian bosses, we need to be fair and not threatening. We need to remember that we serve God, not man.
Don’t forget, those of us who are in a management position, we are servants and masters. We need to work for our master the way we would want those under us to work for us. We need to remember that our masters who are riding us for results are being ridden by their masters. So, if our master isn’t a Christian, and doesn’t act like one, we need to serve him as we would Christ that much more. And, if they ever ask you why you serve with such a good attitude, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.”1 Peter 3:15. Remember, you can’t get in trouble for sharing the gospel at work if you are simply answering a question that your boss asks. Just sayin’.
This week, I would like to start looking at the 4th chapter of Ephesians. The first thing we need to remember is that Paul didn’t write the book of Ephesians in chapters and verses, it was a letter to the church at Ephesus. So, Paul starts out what we know as chapter 4 verses 1 by saying, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”
Notice that he starts out by declaring himself a prisoner of the Lord. The Greek word used here is not the same word used by James, Jude, Peter, and Paul in other locations, that we spoke about last September in our 2-part series on the word “doulos”, but this word means the same thing. It is a bondservant, a servant by choice. I won’t go into depth, but you can read the series on my website.
Let’s look at the first word in the verse, “Therefore.” I had a pastor that used to always say, if you see the word “therefore,” you need to find out what it’s there for. If you read last week’s blog, we talked about Paul’s prayer for the Church. He ended that prayer by saying that, as a result of Christ living in us and empowering us, we will be able to do infinitely more than we could ask for or ever dream of. Because of that power, Paul is begging us to live a life worthy of that calling. But what does he mean by this statement?
I see it all the time on Facebook and Instagram, people saying, “you are worthy.” But, what does the Bible say about it? John the Baptizer said, “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”Matthew 3:11. So, John, the cousin of Jesus and the forerunner of the Messiah, said that he wasn’t even worthy of being Christ’s servant.
Look at the Roman officer who came to ask Jesus to heal his servant. What did he say? “But the officer said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.’”Matthew 8:8. This was a Roman officer, respected by everyone who had enough faith in Christ that he knew that all Jesus had to do is say the word and his servant would be healed, but he didn’t consider himself worthy.
There are many other instances, such as Peter in John 13:8 and Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:9. Look at the parable of the great feast, which is a picture of heaven, where the master said, “The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor.”Matthew 22:8. And, Jesus said in Matthew 10:37, “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.”
So, who in the Bible thought they were worthy? Let’s look at Matthew 7:22-23, “22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” These are people who think they are worthy of getting into heaven, but Jesus tells them to go away. He says He never knew them. Remember, pride was the original sin. What did the serpent say to Eve? He talked her into eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by telling her that she would be like God. He played on her pride. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Saying that you are worthy is nothing more than pride. We are not worthy of salvation, we are forgiven. Salvation is a gift from God that cost His Son’s life, a gift that we don’t deserve.
So, we are not worthy, but Paul begs us to live a life that is worthy of our calling. And, what is that calling? Let’s look at the Great Commission in Matthew 28. In verses 19-20 it says, “19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The Great Commission is to go and make disciples. A disciple is someone who imitates the one they follow. So, our calling is to imitate Jesus. What Paul is saying is to live a life that is as close to Christ as possible. That’s a high calling, but one we must strive for.
Going back to Ephesians 4, Paul tells us how we can live a Christ-like life. Look at verses 2-3, “2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” The instructions are pretty simple: be humble, gentle, patient, stay close to the Holy Spirit, and…you guessed it, be united as the body of Christ.
If you wonder why I talk so much about the unity of the Church, it’s because the Bible talks so much about it, and the Church today isn’t doing it. The body of Christ is more divided today than ever. My book, also titled Cathedral Made of People, addresses this as well as other symptoms of the Churches disease. The book is the same title as this blog, but it isn’t the same. It is a compare and contrast between the Church of the New Testament and the Church today. It will be available next month on Amazon and some other electronic sources and my goal is to have it printed by the end of the year. So, as soon as it is out I will let you know where to get it and if you would like to see some ideas of what we can do to heal the Church, buy a copy and share it with your pastors to see what they think.
But, to sum it all up. Since you have that power living in you, pray that God will help you live a life worthy of the calling of Christ.
So, to pick up where we left off last time, what can we bring to the Lord? The prophet Micah asked this question and then answered it, let’s look. Micah 6:6-8“6 What can we bring to the Lord? What kind of offerings should we give him? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? (plural) 7 Should we offer him thousands of rams (what a king would offer Him) and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? (what every king put together would offer Him) Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? Here’s the answer. 8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” This is service. Do what’s right, all the time. Bob Jones Sr. used to say, “Do right till the stars fall.” Love mercy! Not just God’s mercy on us, that’s easy, but we need to emulate that mercy on those around us, Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”Walk humbly with our God. James 4:10 Says, “10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.” And in James 4:6 it says, “6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, ‘God opposes the proud but favors the humble.’” Do you want to know what service is? If we’re always doing right, and showing God’s mercy to everyone around us, and walking humbly with God, WE WILL BE SERVING.
Is there a price to serving God? Of course, there is. Nothing that is worth anything comes free. If it does come free, it’s just a blind sacrifice. Sometimes the price is financial, in fact, it often is. Sometimes it’s your time, again this is often the case. To tell you the truth, it will probably be both and more. But if we love God half as much as He loves us, we will gladly sacrifice for Him. Let’s face it, He gave His life for us, it doesn’t get bigger than that. Let’s look at Matthew 6:31-34 it says, “31 So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Notice, it doesn’t say we’ll be rich. If you’re listening to a pastor or teacher that tells you that you will be wealthy if you are living for God, walk away. The Bible never says anything like that. If that were the case, then Christ Himself wasn’t living for God, because He was homeless. He said Himself, Luke 9:58“But Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.’” The Bible also tells us Acts 14:22“where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” And again, 2 Corinthians 6:4“In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.” And, Paul said about the illness he had that he had prayed three times for God to remove, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 “8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” The verses go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
So, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you the Christian life is going to be easy, but I will tell you that the reward is great. Philippians 3:12-14“12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Believe me, when I say the prize is worth the trial.
We started with the prophet Malachi, so let’s end with him. Malachi 3:16-18 says, “16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name. 17 “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. 18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” We have been called to a life of service. Not serving ourselves, but serving God and serving others. If the Church in America was doing the job that God gave us, we would have no need of government welfare, we’d be taking care of each other and those around us. In the new year coming up, lets purpose in our hearts to stop bringing God blind sacrifices. Let’s focus on serving each other, our community, and the world. The Bible tells us to be a light to the world, so let’s focus on being a light this year. God bless you all in 2018.
A few weeks ago, we talked about the Greek word, Doulos. We learned that this word means, bondservant. But, what exactly does it mean to be a servant? We’ve all seen maids and butlers on television shows, but what does it really mean. In Matthew 20:25-28, Jesus told His disciples this, “25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Wow, so if we want to be great in God’s eyes, we must serve each other. That isn’t exactly the message we are getting from the mainstream media, is it? But, it doesn’t stop with simple service, because our perfect example is Jesus, who gave His life for us.
First, we must ask ourselves who we are serving. In Matthew 4 we read about the temptation of Christ. This is the story of when Christ was fasting in the wilderness and Satan came to tempt Him. In verse10 Jesus said, 10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” In this passage, Jesus was referencing Deuteronomy 6:13 which says, “You must fear the Lord your God and serve him. When you take an oath, you must use only his name.” Christ made it clear that we are to worship and serve, only the one true God. So many people today, including many that consider themselves to be Christ followers, serve Satan by serving themselves. We are a selfish generation looking only to please ourselves. We even see it in many popular pastors who preach that, if you are truly following Christ, you will have all you want. This message goes directly against what scripture tells us. In fact, 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Do you see what it says there? It doesn’t say we might suffer persecution, it says we will suffer persecution!
This leads us to the second thing. Where is our treasure? Jesus told us in Matthew 6:21, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Notice that He didn’t say that we’ll put our treasures where our heart is, He said that our heart will be where our treasures are. For example, if someone asked you about Aids in Africa, you probably wouldn’t know a lot about it. But, if you are giving your hard-earned money to Aids relief in Africa, you’ll probably be somewhat of an expert on the subject. You see? Where you put your treasure, that’s where your heart will be.
Take a minute to read Malachi 1:6-14. Malachi told the Israelites that they had defiled the Lord’s sacrifice by offering blind animals. Now, obviously we don’t offer animal sacrifices today, so how do we as 21st century Christians offer blind sacrifices and therefore defile the Lord’s sacrifice? For one thing, the Israelites didn’t like the expense of serving God. They were supposed to offer the most expensive sheep they had, but they were offering their junk, sheep that were worthless. They were giving God a worthless sacrifice. God expects our best, and He deserves nothing less. Stop and ask yourself, am I giving God my leftovers? Am I giving God my Junk? I know that I am often guilty of this.
Now, when we think of service, we often think of financial giving and that is definitely part of it, but there’s much more to service. The Old Testament is full of instructions to give at least a tithe, which literally means a tenth of your income. The New Testament goes even further when it tells us that the Church gave everything. If there was a need, they gave it, no matter what it cost them. In fact, they would even sell personal property and give that money when there was a need.
But, service doesn’t stop with money. Christians in America believe that as long as I give God an hour or two a week that we’re good. That is exactly why I have a problem with the concept of Sunday being “The Lord’s Day”. The Bible never declares Sunday to be the Lord’s day, a fourth-century pope did that after taking Acts 20:7 out of context. When that verse says, “on the first day of the week, we gathered”, it was not a declaration that Sunday was the Lord’s day, it was leading into a story, and talking about that particular service. If you go back eighteen chapters, you’ll see where it says, Acts 2:46“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity.” Did you get that? They met daily. Psalm 118:24 tells us that every day is the Lord’s day. This one belief has caused many Americans to offer God blind sacrifices. We think, “well, as long as I give God His day then I’m good and the rest of the week is mine.” And, of course, giving Him, His day means going to a church service for an hour. This belief is absolutely untrue. Every day is His. Every breath we take is His. Every beat of our heart is His. If we were to only give God a tithe of our time that would be almost 17 hours a week. Compare that to the TV. Now, I know that some of you are saying, “I don’t watch much TV” and that may be true, but according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., “the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day.” Do the math, that’s 28 hours per week or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year. In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. Here’s a crazy thought, what if we gave God the 28 hours a week we give to the media, that’d be a start anyway. Oh, and by the way, that’s just TV. It doesn’t take into account the time we spend on the internet, social media or our smartphones.
There’s more to say on this subject, so we’ll pick up from here next time.
The name Adonai means, Lord and Master. Just as in the name Elohim, Adonai is the plural tense with a first-person singular pronoun, once again demonstrating the Trinity. Now, there are those who don’t believe in the Trinity because the word is never used in the Bible. While it is true that the word trinity is never used, the Trinity itself is very clearly portrayed. There are many examples other than the use of plural tenses to refer to one God. There is also Christ’s own words where He said in John 10:30, “The Father and I are one.” Notice He didn’t say the Father and I are like one, or the Father and I are similar, He said we are one. Another example is the name Jehovah, which means “I Am”. When God was talking to Moses through the burning bush, He told Moses to tell Pharaoh that I Am has sent you. All throughout the Bible God the Father refers to Himself as “I Am”, and then Jesus said in John 8:58, “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!’” See there? He didn’t say I was, He said I Am. He was revealing Himself as God. What he said was before Abraham was, Jehovah!
I could go on, but this isn’t a blog on the Trinity, it’s on the name Adonai, and as I said it means Lord and Master. David used it in the 110th Psalm when he said in verse 1, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.’” If you look at this verse in the original Hebrew, it says, “Jehovah said to Adonai”. Adonai is translated “My Lord”.
God is our Lord, He is our Master. There are so many who claim the name of Christ but don’t make Him their master. I’m sorry to be the one to break this to you, but you can’t do that. He is an all or nothing kind of God. Remember the name we recently looked at, El Qanna? It means that He is a jealous God. The last thing that Jesus said to His disciples before ascending to heaven, what we call the Great Commission, was Matthew 28:18-20,“18 Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” First, He says, go make disciples. A disciple is one who imitates the one they are following. The Pharisees had disciples, and their job was to follow that Pharisee around and imitate everything he did. God doesn’t tell us to make congregations, He doesn’t tell us to make religious people, He tells us to make imitators of Himself. The name Christian means “Christ-like”. I have a friend, Joshua Hackworth, who said in one of his blogs several years ago that he calls himself a Christ follower, not a Christian because that’s for you to decide. That’s so true if we are living as Christians, then others should recognize us as such. Actually, it’s somewhat arrogant for us to call ourselves Christians. When we do that, we are telling others that we are Christ-like. But, if He is our Lord and Master, we will be following His examples. The other thing this passage says is that we are to teach these new disciples to follow everything that Christ has taught us. Notice He didn’t say to teach them the 10 commandments or to teach them the Lord’s Prayer, He said to teach them the commandments that He has taught us. And, what was the greatest of those commandments? Matthew 22:34-4034 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Love God, and Love Each Other…it’s that simple!
The Bible makes it very clear that we are not saved by our works, Ephesians 2:8-9“8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” But, we are saved for good works, Matthew 5:14-1614 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” As with everything, our good works are there to glorify our Father…our Lord and Master. Our Adonai.
If you call yourself a Christian but haven’t made Him your master yet, stop what you are doing and take care of that right now. Go back and read my blog titled “Doulos”. Many of the books of the New Testament started out by saying: Paul, or Peter, or James, or Luke, a doulos of my Lord Jesus Christ. A doulos is a bondservant or a servant by choice. Ask yourself, am I a doulos, or do I try to be my own master?
Exodus 34:14 says this, “You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.” El Qanna means Jealous God…thus, His very name is Jealous. I know what you are probably thinking, isn’t jealousy a bad thing? It can be, but God is jealous of our time with Him, He is jealous of our worship. I am not a “jealous man” because I can trust my wife, but if my wife were to start giving her affections to another man…watch out.
All throughout the Bible, God refers to us as His bride, Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthian Church, 2 Corinthians 11:2“For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.” If you are a Christ follower, you are the bride of Christ, and he is jealous of our praise, our affection, and our worship.
There is a great worship song. I first heard it performed by David Crowder, but it was written by John Mark McMillan. This song is called, “How He Loves”, and it says:
And He is jealous for me,
Love’s like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
He loves us so much, that He gave His only Son to die on the cross for us. Think about this for a minute. First, Christ left Heaven to come to earth as a man, that alone was a huge sacrifice. But, then He lived a life, literally as a homeless man, and ministered to people, many of which rejected everything He said. After that, He was beaten beyond recognition and hung on a cross to die. His body was then buried in a borrowed tomb, then on the third day, He overcame death and the grave by rising from the dead. He did that for you and me, so we must praise Him.
In Deuteronomy 5:9 God told the Israelites, “You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.” Many of you may be thinking, but I don’t worship other gods like they did back then. Don’t you? We often think of other gods being Buddha or some other idol, but what about money, or your career, or your house, car, or other worldly possessions? Do we spend more time with God than we do with our homes, or cars, or friends, or jobs, or even our TVs? The truth is that we all have things that we put before God, and He is jealous of them. He deserves our attention, and He demands our attention.
We’ve all heard people say, “It’s not about religion, it’s about a relationship.” Sometimes those clichés lose their punch, but it is so true. God does not want religion, He does not care about organ music, or stained-glass windows, or any of that garbage, all He cares about is a relationship with His Church…His Bride.
I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Every time that religion is mentioned in the New Testament, except for one verse, it is mentioned in a negative light. The people that Jesus had problems with were the religious people, not the “sinners”, and Paul kept talking about how he left the religion of his fathers to follow Christ. The one time that religion is mentioned in a positive light is in James 1:27, where it says, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” So, what God sees as pure religion is helping widows and orphans, and keeping yourself pure. That’s it! Pure religion is glorifying God!
God’s love for us is unspeakable. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is the last verse in the book of John. The whole book is talking about all that Jesus did for us out of His love for us. It talks about His baptism at the beginning of His ministry, it talks about His ministry and how He was rejected by the religious people. In chapter 17 it recounts His prayer for us just before He went to the cross. It goes on to talk about His betrayal and crucifixion, His resurrection and ascent to heaven, and then it ends by saying, John 21:25“Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” Stop for just a minute and think about what this verse is saying. Look around at the room you are in and think about how many books it would take to fill that room. My office is small, about 12’X12’ with 8’ ceilings, so it’s about 1,152 cubic feet. That means that, if each book was about 1 cubic foot, it would take almost 1,200 books to fill this little office. But, to write down all the things that Jesus did for us out of love, the world couldn’t contain the books…wow! What a humbling thought! He loves me that much.
Let’s all, purpose in our hearts to love God as much as He loved us. I won’t write it all here, but stop for a minute and read 1 John chapter 4, starting at verse 7, and fall in love with God. You may think you already love God, and you probably do, but do you love Him like He loves you? Probably not, I know I don’t.
This name of God is only found twice in the entire Bible, and they are both in Exodus chapter 31. This name means The Lord Who Sanctifies You, or The Lord Who Makes You Holy. But, like some of the other names we have looked at, although it only appears twice as a name of God, it is illustrated throughout Scripture.
So, what does it mean to be sanctified, or holy? I mean, we hear these words a lot, especially holy. We hear about how God is holy, the Holy Bible and, of course, songs like Holy, Holy, Holy. But, did you know that you are supposed to be holy just like God is holy? So, what does that look like? The Hebrew word for sanctify or holy is Qadash and it means, to be set apart. We, as Christ-followers, are called to be set apart. The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” Notice he says, “For the Scriptures say,” he is quoting Old Testament Scripture here; specifically Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, and 20:7. Then, he goes on, just a little later in the same letter to say, 1 Peter 2:9“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” Let’s look at what this verse is saying. First, he says we are a chosen people. I’ve said it before. The Bible often refers to us as being adopted, and that means we were chosen. We weren’t thrust upon God, we weren’t an accident…He chose us! The next thing it says is that we are royal priests. David Guzik had this to say about that phrase, “The offices of royalty and priesthood were jealously separated in Israel, but Jesus, who is our King and Priest, has brought them together for His people.” So, in Christ, we are both royalty, and priests. After that he says that we are a holy, or a set apart, nation. As believers, we must be set apart from the world. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” See what it says? “Let God transform you…by changing the way you think.” Don’t be like the world, be transformed, be a holy nation! But Peter wasn’t finished there, he went on to say that we are to be God’s very own possession. The KJV says, “a peculiar people”. So, don’t be like the world…be peculiar, be set apart, be God’s very own possession. Peter ends that verse by saying, as a result of being these things, we can show others the goodness of God, because He has called us out of the darkness they are in and into His perfect light.
How do we do this? How can we be set apart? Well, the first thing we need must do is, we must die to ourselves. Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.” Singer-songwriter, Joshua S. Porter of the band, Showbread, changed his name to Josh Dies to remind himself that he must die to himself daily. That’s what we must do, not change our names, but remind ourselves that we are nothing without Christ, and die to our sinful nature.
Once we are holy and set apart, and in His perfect light, we must show the world that light. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He said this, Matthew 5:14-1614 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” We are the light of the world! So many people today that claim the name of Christ think they are the judges of the world, and that their job is to stand on a street corner and hold signs to condemn people of their sins. News Flash, sinners will sin! It’s not our job to point that out, it’s our job to be a light. Once we have shined God’s light, His light will expose their sins. Look at the Parable of the Great Feast in Luke 14. After he was rejected by the first people he invited, he sent his servants out to bring in the homeless and outcasts. Read that account carefully, did he say to clean them up and then bring them in? No, he said, 21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24 For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”
So, keep in mind that our job is to be holy like He is holy and to be salt and light to the world. Earnest Humphries, the pastor I grew up under, used to always say, “Your life may be the only Bible that some will ever open.” If you proclaim the name of Christ, the world will be watching. So stop judging and start shining!
Doulos, it is a strange sounding word, and no, I didn’t make it up. So, what does it mean? Doulos is a Greek word that is used many times throughout the New Testament. In fact, it is used 125 times and is translated; 118 times as Servant, 6 times as Bond, and 1 time as Bondman. The Greek dictionary defines Doulos as:
a slave, bondman, man of servile condition
a slave
, one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men
devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests
a servant, attendant
Historically speaking, during the New Testament times, a bondman or bondservant was someone who had been an indentured slave. They had owed a debt and remained that person’s servant until the debt was paid off. Notice that I said had been. After the debt was paid in full, sometimes the servant enjoyed their life as a servant. They had a roof over their head, three square meals a day, and were treated well by their master. So, in cases like this, the servant would often, voluntarily stayed on as that person’s slave for life. At that point, the owner would put the servant’s earlobe against the doorpost and drive a spike through it, identifying that person as their Doulos. So, a Doulos is a slave for life, by choice.
This explains why the writers of the New Testament used that word so often, it defines just what a Christ follower should be. Even a demon possessed slave girl used this word to define Paul and his disciples in Acts 16:16-17 “16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
Paul used it repeatedly, as in Romans 1:1“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”. And again in 2 Corinthians 4:5“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. “. Notice in this verse he said, “your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” In serving Christ, we must serve each other. Remember, Christian means Christ-like. We are called to be disciples and a disciple is someone who imitates the one they are following. Jesus was the perfect example of a servant. Philippians 2:7-8“7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,8he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” So, we need to love and serve all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what ethnic group they belong to, no matter what country they were born in, no matter what denomination they belong to. If they have trusted in Christ as their savior, we must love and serve them.
Paul also used it to illustrate why he doesn’t seek to please men in Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”
He used it in Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:” again Paul used Doulos to explain what Christ did for us by leaving the glory of heaven and coming to earth to die on a cross in Philippians 2:5-11“5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Paul referred to himself and his companions in the faith as bondservants, Colossians 1:7 “just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,” also in Colossians 4:7“As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information.” And in Titus 1:1“Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,”
He even gives instructions on how a Doulos should act in 2 Timothy 2:24-25“24The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,”.
Peter refers to himself as a Doulos in 2 Peter 1:1“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:” John also refers to himself as a Doulos in Revelation 1:1“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,”
We’ll conclude our look at the word Doulos in the next installment. See you then.
Doulos – Part 2
Well, here it is, I have saved the best for last, or at least as far as I’m concerned. Out of all of these passages and many others, my two favorites are James 1:1 “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.” And Jude 1:1“Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:” What makes these my favorites? I’m glad you asked. James and Jude were the half-brothers of Jesus. When we read through the Gospel accounts, we see that, during His life, Jesus’ earthly brothers didn’t believe in Him, and frankly didn’t want to have anything to do with Him. John 7:1-5 says, “1After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!’ 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.” But, in all honesty, wouldn’t we have done the same thing? I mean, let’s think about it. If you had siblings, there were times in your life that you thought, “Mom and dad think they don’t do anything wrong.” And, you may even believe that still, but imagine being the siblings of the Christ…God in the flesh…He literally never did anything wrong…you thought your siblings were perfect! So, how do you think that made His siblings feel? But, the beautiful thing is that after His resurrection, they believed and they didn’t stop there. Both James and Jude considered themselves to be bondservants, voluntary servants for life, of Jesus Christ. Notice that Jude even says, “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James”. He mentions that he is the brother of James, but doesn’t even feel worthy to be called the brother of Jesus, the Christ. What a transformation. But, you see, that’s what Christ does in our lives, He transforms us to be more like Him.
So, now that we know what a Doulos is, what do we do with this information? Knowing what it means is one thing, but doing something about it is entirely different. James 1:22-25“22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” We can’t stop at knowledge, we must strive to be a bondservant of Christ. So, how do we do this, as we saw in 2 Timothy 2:24-45, we can’t be quarrelsome, but we must be kind to everyone. We’ve all met Christians who seem to always be looking for a fight, especially from nonbelievers. We also need to be able to teach. You might be thinking, “I’m not a teacher, that’s definitely not my gift,” and you may be right, but you can still share what you know. I love to cook, it is one of my passions. If someone gets me talking about food and cooking, I get excited. We love to talk about what we are passionate about, so the first step is to become passionate about Christ. If you aren’t there yet, start by reading the Gospels and seeing what Jesus did for you. In fact, personalize it when you read it. For instance, when you read John 3:16, everywhere it says, “the world” or “Who Ever” insert your name…He did it for you. One of my favorite verses is John 21:25. After twenty-one chapters of talking about all that Jesus did for us, he ends the book with this verse, “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” Let that sink in for a minute. Look at the room you are in and think about just how many books it would take to fill that room. Just for fun, I did the math. My office is 10’X12’ with 8’ ceilings and taking the average mass of a book, which is 108 in2, I found that it would take fifteen thousand three hundred and sixty books to fill this little room. That verse said that the world couldn’t contain the books that would be written. That’s how much God loves us.
The next one is the tough one, we must be patient when wronged…ouch! I don’t know about you, but I tend to want to get even, so I need to keep that in check. And, we need to gently correct those who are in opposition, or another translation says, those who oppose the truth. Notice it says, gently. Some of us are ready to correct everyone, but we must do it gently because, as this scripture says, that way we might be able to lead them into the truth. Also in Proverbs 15:1 we read, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.”
So, in conclusion, we must be a doer, not just a hearer. Many people say, “Knowledge is everything”. The truth is Knowledge is nothing if you do nothing with it. So, let’s get off our collective butts and start doing. Let’s take this information and apply it to our lives. Let’s all strive to be bondservants for Christ, and for each other. 1 Corinthians 13:13, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
Cathedral Made of People 